The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, particularly regarding the authority responsible for granting permission for the construction of factories and installation of machinery.

1. The petitioner has come up with the present Writ Petition for a Writ of Mandamus forbearing the fifth respondent from taking any steps like installing, operating, commissioning their wind mills within the Gangaikondan Panchayat Jurisdiction, Tirunelveli District, without getting permission from Gangaikondan Panchayat in terms of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, [for brevity, "the Act"] and the Rules framed thereunder.

2. The facts of the case, as stated in the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition, in a nutshell, are set out hereunder:-

(a) TheGangaikondan Panchayat area has been found as wind prone area by the Non-Conventional Energy Sources Department. Therefore, the Wind Mill Developers are purchasing or getting lease of lands for the purpose of erecting wind mills during the last few years and the fifth respondent is one of such developers making all arrangements to erect 7 Wind Mills within the jurisdiction of the said Panchayat.

(b) The fourthrespondent sent a communication dated 22.12.2011 to all the Presidents of Panchayats within the Manur Panchayat Union, wherein he endorsed the judgment of this Court made in W.P.(MD) No.9930 of 2011 dated 17.11.2011 directing them to take necessary further action in respect of wind mills erected in the respective panchayats. The fourth respondent has also sent another communication dated 19.3.2012 referring the instruction of the third respondent District Collector dated 22.2.2007 regarding the mode of assessment of tax relating to wind mills.

(c) The wind mill which generates and transmits electricity is a factory involved in manufacturing process and a wind mill is a building as defined in Section 2(1-A) of the Act.

(d) The fifth respondent sent an application dated 31.12.2011 seeking approval for setting up wind turbine generator in various survey numbers without required documents. Though the petitioner sent several letters enlisting the documents required for processing the application, the fifth respondent has not complied with the requirements. Hence, the petitioner has returned the application along with a detailed letter dated 24.3.2012. Till date, the fifth respondent has not re-submitted the application complying with the requirements.

(e) Without getting prior approval of building plan as per the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Building Rules, 1997 and without obtaining sanction under Section 159 of the Act, the fifth respondent is erecting totally 7 wind mills within the Gangaikondan Panchayat area. Respondents 1 and 2 ought not to have granted any permission for commissioning the wind mills erected by the fifth respondent without the building plan approval and the licence for running wind mill under the Act and Rules framed thereunder.

(f) Now, the fifth respondent has completed the erection of 4 wind mills out of 7 wind mills and making all arrangements to complete the work. In fact, two wind mills erected by the fifth respondent are functioning and generating energy. The act of the fifth respondent in erecting and generating electricity without plan approval and licence under the Act from the Gangaikondam Panchayat is illegal.

Therefore, the petitioner has come up with the present Writ Petition for the relief stated earlier.

3. The case of the fifth respondent, as set out in the affidavit filed in support of the application in M.P.No.3 of 2012 for vacating the interim order, in a nutshell, is set out hereunder:-

(a) The fifth respondent is a registered company under the statute and is involved in the business of developing wind mill projects on turnkey basis providing end to end solutions. The fifth respondent company has entered into a turnkey contract with M/s.Gamesa Wind Turbines Private Limited for development of 10 Mega Watt Wind farms in and around Gangaikondan Village. For the said purpose, they have identified the lands in survey Nos.465, 359, 455, 459, 529, 444, 424, 475, 561 & 568, 353 and 447 of Gangaikondan Village.