Interim orders must not grant final relief; they should only aid in maintaining the status quo until the main matter is decided.

J U D G M E N T

S. Manikumar, C. J.

Being aggrieved by the interim order dated 30.08.2022 in W.P.

(C) No. 26182 of 2022, instant writ appeal is filed.

2. Short order impugned in the writ appeal is reproduced:-

“There will be a direction to the 2nd respondent to consider Ext.P9 application forthwith, untrammelled by any observation in Ext.P14. But, I make it clear that If there is any interim order from the 2nd respondent against the consideration of Ext.P9 application, the 2nd respondent will obey the same. Any order passed by the 2nd respondent will be subject to the final orders passed by the appellate authority.”

3. Short facts leading to the filing of the writ appeal are as hereunder:-

a) Appellants are respondents 5 to 7 in the writ petition.

According to the appellants, Mr. Sasidharan, the 1st respondent herein, obtained Ext. P2 consent to establish, for setting up a hot mix plant, near the residence of the appellants. The deliberate omissions and misrepresentation in the application submitted by the 1st respondent has led to the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the 2nd respondent, in issuing Ext. P2 consent to establish. Crucial facts like existence of a river adjacent to the property, the proximity of residential buildings etc., were not revealed in the application. Against Ext. P2, the appellants have preferred Annexures A5 and A6 appeals before the Appellate Authority constituted under the Air and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Acts, and the same are pending.

b) Appellants have submitted that when Mr. Sasidharan, the 1st respondent herein, submitted Ext. P9 application for issuance of consent to operate, the Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Kollam, the 3rd respondent, informed the 1st respondent that consent to operate, being consequential to consent to establish, can be further processed only after disposal of the appeals. It is assailing Ext. P14 and seeking a direction to the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the 2nd respondent, to consider Ext. P9 application, writ petition was filed. The interim order granted by the learned Single Judge to consider Ext. P9 forthwith, untrammelled by any observation in Ext. P14, virtually amounts to granting the main relief sought for in the writ petition at the initial stage itself.

c) Appellants have further submitted that this Court in W. P.(C)

No. 27956 of 2022 filed by the appellants, has already directed the appellate authority to consider the appeals within 2 months. Though the next posting of the appeals was on 03.09.2022, by notification, the same have now been adjourned to 06.10.2022. On the strength of the interim order now issued, if the consent to operate is issued to the 1st respondent, and if he commences operation of the hot mix unit, the same would virtually render the appeals infructuous.

4. By inviting the attention of this Court to the relief sought for in the W. P. (C) No. 26182 of 2022, Mr. Thomas Abraham, learned counsel for the appellants, submitted that the interim order dated

30.08.2022, is in the nature of granting the main relief itself.

5. By inviting the attention of this Court to Ext. P14, the observations of the Environmental Engineer, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the 3rd respondent, in returning the application for consent to operate, Mr. Thomas Abraham, learned counsel for the appellants, further submitted that if Ext. P9 application has to be considered, untrammeled by any observation in Ext. P14, then nothing remains in the statutory appeals filed before the competent authority under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

6. Added further, he submitted that when the statutory appeals were pending before the authorities under the abovesaid Acts, with an application of stay for consent to establish, the appeals were not disposed of, and therefore, the appellants were constrained to file W. P.

(C) No. 27956 of 2022, for disposal of t