S. Manikumar, J.

(Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, issuance of a writ of mandamus, directing the respondents 1 and 2 to grant compensation to the fishermen from the three district of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur affected by the Oil Spill caused on 28.01.2017 without insisting for Membership from Fishermen Societies.)

1. Claiming to be the Secretary of the National Union of Fishermen, Mr.E.Raja, has filed the instant writ petition for a writ of mandamus, directing the Principal Secretary to the Government, Environment and Forest Department, Chennai and the Director of Fisheries, Chennai, respondents 1 and 2 respectively, to grant compensation to the fishermen from three districts, viz., Chennai, Kanchipuram, Thiruvallur, said to be affected by the Oil Spill caused on 28.01.2017 without insisting for the Membership from Fishermen Societies.

2. Supporting the prayer sought for, in the affidavit to the writ petition, the petitioner has averred as follows:

(i) As per the information obtained through various press releases and on direct investigation, on 28th January 2017, two ships vessel collided near Ennore Port, Chennai within the territorial waters of India and this resulted in leakage of crude oil from the vessel ‘DAWN KANCHIPURAM’, which is reported to be a fully loaded tanker vessel carrying tonnes of oil and the said vessel was weighing a Gross Tonnage of 29141 tonnes.

(ii) Collision resulted in leakage of oil, which the authorities initially claimed to be One tonne crude oil that started spreading on the sea water and within one day, it reached the shores of Ennore beach and Port resulting in death of many turtles and fishes. Leaking oil on the sea water makes it difficult for the fishes and other organisms to breath, as the oil spill on the water will not allow oxygen to mix with water resulting in suffocation for marine lives. Also, the viscosity and high adhesive nature of the oil causes it to attach instantly onto all matters except water and remains very difficult remove from such matters even with the help of soap or other such washing agents. Further, this has completely stopped the fishermen in the region to venture out in the sea, as almost all the fish in sea covered with the oil spill have either died, due to oil spill or ran fled away into deep sea. Statutory authorities either had incompetent machines or no machines at all, for cleaning out the oil spill. But it is everyone’s knowledge that public spirted citizens have participated in the cleaning operations by using bare hands and water buckets.

(iii) It is revealed that Indian authorities lack even the basic and rudimentary facilities to pump out oil spill and all the measures taken were totally haphazard and they have infact resulted in blowing out the proportions of oil spill to various regions. The workers who had little or no experience faced an Himalayan task of clearing the oil and the workers also faced life hazard, as they are not equipped with protective measures for themselves to keep safe from the hazards that may arise while cleaning the oil spill. It is also noted that the submersible pumps used by the authorities have broken down to due to the heavy and excessive oil spill. The workers were forced to use small pipe hoses to suck oil spill and they were seen using shovel to remove the thick oil spills.

(iv) The respondents ought to have taken cognizance of the accident in pursuance of the clear dictum of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Vellore Citizen’s Welfare Forum’s case on the principle of “polluter pays”. Further, as the collision caused very minimal damage to the 7th respondent vessel and at any time, it could flee away from the Indian waters, hence on 01.02.2017, petitioner filed a writ petition in W.P.No.2662 of 2017 to pass an order of direction to the official respondents to t