Liability persists for water pollution violations despite transfer of property ownership.

O R D E R

The accused Nos.1 to 3, 5 and 6 in C.C No.848/2018 on the files of the judicial first class magistrate court, Kakkanad have filed this petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C to quash the proceedings against them in the said case.

2. The aforesaid case arose out of a complaint filed by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board alleging the commission of offences under Sections 41 , 43, 44, 45A and 47 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 . The first accused is a Private Limited Company by name Galaxy Homes (P) Ltd. which had constructed a multi-storied apartment complex of 120 units at Kakkanad Village, and the second accused is its Managing Director. Accused Nos.3 to 6 are said to be the Directors of the aforesaid company. The complaint pertains to the alleged acts of the petitioners leading to the discharge of sewage from the aforesaid apartment complex, in excess of the standards prescribed by the Pollution Control Board, to the nearby properties and thereby causing nuisance and health hazards to the nearby residents.

3. The case of the complainant, is summarised as follows:-

The petitioners have obtained consent to operate from the Pollution Control Board with a validity upto 31.12.2017 in connection with the construction of the above apartment complex by name Galaxy Green at Kakkanad Village. As per the above consent, the discharge of sewage from the Sewage Treatment Plant shall only be through soak-pit after meeting the revised standards, and the overflow from the soak-pit has to be connected to public drain leading to canal/river/surface water and the occupier shall ensure that the public drain has no block up to the water body. While so, in the year 2015, a local resident by name Raj Nair filed a writ petition before this Court alleging that pollution is being caused due to the discharge of waste water from the aforesaid apartment complex to his property, and that the Pollution Control Board is not taking effective steps to abate the above nuisance. Accordingly, the officials of the Pollution Control Board conducted an inspection on 31.10.2016, and the analysis of the samples collected revealed that it did not conform to the prescribed standards. Thereupon, the Board officials issued directions to the petitioners to stop the discharge through weeping holes into the nearby properties. Again, the Board officials had to conduct another inspection on 01.06.2017 as per the directions of this Court and it was found that the area available for discharging the treated effluent through soak-pit was insufficient. It was further found by the Board officials that the treated water is disposed through soak-pit other than that mentioned in the consent to operate, leading to overflow from the soak-pit to the nearby properties. Accordingly, the Board again issued directions to the petitioners to rectify the defect in the above regard. However, the nearby residents, aggrieved by the continuance of the percolation of waste water to their properties from the aforesaid apartment complex, initiated contempt proceedings against the Pollution Control Board for the non-compliance of the directions issued by this Court in the aforesaid writ petition. Accordingly, the Board officials conducted another inspection on 06.07.2017 and found that the petitioners have not complied with the directions issued by the Board to stick on to the terms and conditions of the consent granted by the said Board. Even the subsequent inspections conducted by the Board officials on 25.11.2017, 19.12.2017, 25.01.2018 and 31.01.2018 revealed that the discharge of waste water to the nearby property through the weeping holes of the compound wall of the apartment complex persisted. Accordingly, the A