A.P. Shah, CJ.

These petitions – public interest – under Article 226 of the Constitution of India filed by the Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association and few individual farmers who have agricultural lands on the banks of river Noyyal bring to light the woes of the agriculturists living in Noyyal River Basin, whose agricultural lands have been rendered either partially or totally unfit for cultivation by the unabated, heavy and constant discharge of highly toxic trade effluents into the Noyyal river by the several dyeing, bleaching and other ancillary factories in and around Tiruppur Town and its suburbs, in blatant violation of the environmental laws and the orders passed by this Court, and total apathy and inaction on the part of the authorities concerned to prevent the pollution of the river by the erring industries, as the river water becomes totally polluted and has been rendered wholly unfit for irrigation and even for drinking purpose, affecting the interests of a large section of agriculturists in Coimbatore, Erode and Karur Districts.

2. The Noyyall river is the tributary of the Cauvery river which originates in the Velliangiri Hills of the Western Ghats.