Important Point
Right of a person to pollution free environment is a part of the basic jurisprudence of the land and the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle are part of the environmental law of the country.

Headnote:Pollution—Environmental Law—Development and ecology—‘Sustainable development’ as a balancing concept between ecology and development has been accepted as a part of Customary International Law—Precautionary Principle Polluter Pays principle part of environmental law of country—900 tanneries operating in five districts of Tamil Nadu polluting the environment for over a decade—Notification GOMs No. 213 dated 30-3-1989—Order should be strictly enforced—No industry listed in Annexure-1 to order should be permitted to be set up in prohibited area—Comprehensive directions issued for achieving end result in this case—Chief Justice of Madras High Court to constitute a special Bench ‘Green Bench’ to deal with this case and other environmental matters, [Constitution of India—Articles 21, 32, 47, 48A and 51A(g)]
       Held : The Central Government shall constitute an authority under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and shall confer on the said authority all the powers necessary to deal with the situation created by the tanneries and other polluting industries in the State of Tamil Nadu. The Authority shall be headed by a retired judge of the High Court and it may have other members - preferably with expertise in the field of pollution control and environment protection - to be appointed by the Central Government. The Central Government shall confer on the said authority the powers to issue directions under Section 5 of the Environment Act and for taking measures with respect to the matters referred to in Clauses (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x) and (xii) of sub-section (2) of Section 3. The Central Government shall constitute the authority before September 30, 1996.
       The authority so constituted by the Central Government shall implement the “precautionary principle” and the “polluter pays” principle. The authority shall, with the help of expert opinion and after giving opportunity to the concerned polluters assess the loss to the ecology/environment in the affected areas and shall also identify the individuals/families who have suffered because of the pollution and shall assess the compensation to be paid to the said individuals/families. The authority shall further determine the compensation to be recovered from the polluters as cost of reversing the damaged environment. The authority shall lay down just and fair procedure for completing the exercise.
       The authority shall compute the compensation under two heads namely, for reversing the ecology and for payment to individuals. A statement showing the total amount to be recovered, the names of the polluters from whom the amount is to be recovered, the amount to be recovered from each polluter, the persons to whom the compensation is to be paid and the amount payable to each of them shall be forwarded to the Collector/District Magistrates of the area concerned. The Collector/District Magistrate shall recover the amount from the polluters, if necessary, as arrears of land revenue. He shall disburse the compensation awarded by the authority to the affected persons/families.
       The authority shall direct the closure of the industry owned/managed by a polluter in case he evades or refuses to pay the compensation awarded against him. This shall be in addition to the recovery from him as arrears of land revenue.
       An industry may have set up the necessary pollution control device at present but it shall be liable to pay for the past pollution generated by the said industry which has resulted in the environmental degradation and suffering to the residents of the area.
       We impose pollution fine of Rs. 10,000/- each on all the tanneries in the districts of North Arcot Ambedkar, Erode Periyar, Dindigul Anna, Trichi and Chengai M.G.R. The fine shall be paid before October 31, 1996 in the office of the Collector/District Magistrate concerned.
       The authority, in consultation with expert bodies like NEERI, Central Board, Board shall frame scheme/scheme for reversing the damage caused to the ecology and environment by pollution in the State of Tamil Nadu. The scheme/schemes no framed shall be executed by the State Government under the supervision of the Central Government. The expenditure shall be met from the “Environment Protection Fund” and from other sources provided by the State Government and the Central Government.
       We suspend the closure orders in respect of all the tanneries in the five districts of North Arcot Ambedkar, Erode Periyar, Dindigul Anna, Trichi and Chengai M.G.R. We direct all the tanneries in the above five districts to set up CETPs or Individual Pollution Control Devices on or before November 30, 1996. Those connected with CETPs shall have to install in addition the primary devices in the tanneries. All the tanneries in the above five districts shall obtain the consent of the Board to function and operate with effect from December 15, 1996. The tanneries who are refused consent or who fail to obtain the consent of the Board by December 15, 1996 shall be closed forthwith.
       We direct the Superintendent of Police and the Collector/District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned to close all those tanneries with immediate effect who fail to obtain the consent from the Board by the said date. Such tanneries shall not be reopened unless the authority permits them to do so. It would be open to the authority to close such tanneries permanently or to direct their relocation.
       The Government Order No. 213 dated March 30, 1989 shall be enforced forthwith. No new industry listed in Annexure-I to the Notification shall be permitted to be set up within the prohibited area. The authority shall review the cases of all the industries which are already operating in the prohibited area and it would be open to authority to direct the relocation of any of such industries.
       The standards stipulated by the Board regarding total dissolved solids (TDS) and approved by the NEERI shall be operative. All the tanneries and other industries in the State of Tamil Nadu shall comply with the said standards. The quality of ambient waters has to be maintained through the standards stipulated by the Board. (Para 22)

Judgment

Kuldip Singh, J.—This petition - public interest - under Article 32 of the Constitution of India has been filed by Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum and is directed against the pollution which is being caused by enormous discharge of untreated effluent by the tanneries and other industries in the State of Tamil Nadu. It is stated that the tanneries are discharging untreated effluent into agricultural fields, road-sides, water ways and open lands. The untreated effluent is finally discharged in river Palar which is the main source of water supply to the residents of the area. According to the petitioner the entire surface and sub-soil water of river Palar has been polluted resulting in non-availability of potable water to the residents of the area. It is stated that the tanneries in the State of Tamil Nadu have caused environmental degradation in the area. According to the preliminary survey made by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Research Centre Vellore nearly 35,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Tanneries Belt, has become either partially or totally unfit for cultivation. It has been further stated in the petition that the tanneries use about 170 types of chemicals in the chrome tanning processes. The said chemicals include sodium chloride, lime, sodium sulphate, chlorium sulphate, fat liquor Amonia and sulphuric acid besides dyes which are used in large quantities. Nearly 35 litres of water is used for processing one kilogram of finished leather, resulting in dangerously enormous quantities of toxic effluents being let out in the open by the tanning industry. These effluents have spoiled the physico-chemical properties of the soil, and have contaminated ground water by percolation. According to the petitioner an independent survey conducted by Peace Members, a non-governmental organisation, covering 13 villages of Dindigal and Peddiar Chatram Anchayat Unions, reveals that 350 wells out of total of 467 used for drinking and irrigation purposes have been polluted. Women and children have to walk miles to get drinking water. Legal Aid and Advice Board of Tamil Nadu requested two lawyers namely, M.R. Ramanan and P.S. Subramanium to visit the area and submit a report indicating the extent of pollution caused by the tanneries. Relevant part of the report is as under :

“As per the Technical Report dated 28.5.1983 of the Hydrological Investigations carried out in Solur village near Ambur it was noticed that 176 chemicals including acids were contained in the Tannery effluents. If 40 litres of water with chemicals are required for one Kilo of Leather, with the production of 200 tons of Leather per day at present and likely to be increased multifold in the next four to five years with the springing up of more tanneries like mushroom in and around Ambur town, the magnitude of the effluent water used with chemicals and acids let out daily can be shockingly imagined. ......... The effluents are let out from the tanneries in the nearby lands, then to Goodar and Palar rivers. The lands, the rivulet and the river receive the effluents containing toxic chemicals and acids. The sub soil water is polluted ultimately affecting not only arable lands, wells used for agriculture but also drinking water wells. The entire Ambur Town and the villages situated nearby do not have good drinking water. Some of the influential and rich people are able to get drinking water from a far off place connected by few pipes. During rainy days and floods, the chemicals deposited into the rivers and lands spread out quickly to other lands. The effluents thus let out, affect cultivation, either crops do not come up at all or if produced the yield is reduced abnormally too low. ........ The Tanners have come to stay. The industry is a Foreign Exchange Earner. But one moot point is whether at the cost of the lives of lakhs of people with increasing human population the activities of the tanneries should be encouraged on monetary c

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1996 Supreme(SC) 1350

Important PointRight of a person to pollution free environment is a part of the basic jurisprudence of the land and the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle are part of the environmental law of the country.

Cases Referred (4)

Important Point
Right of a person to pollution free environment is a part of the basic jurisprudence of the land and the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle are part of the environmental law of the country.