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The National Green Tribunal has ordered that power supply be restored immediately to Chemplast Sanmar’s industrial alcohol unit.
The Tribunal passed the interim order today on a petition filed by the company after the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board cut power supply to the distillery in Panruti on November 20 on the orders of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The 22-kilolitre per day unit supplies alcohol as feedstock to Chemplast Sanmar’s 2.2-lakh-tonne-a-year PVC plant in Cuddalore.
The company represented to the Tribunal that the CPCB had taken the action without issuing a show-cause notice.
The company represented that a team from the CPCB had carried out a surprise check on April 23 and made some ‘oral observations’. The unit had not been in operation at that time.
Subsequently, the CPCB authorities had passed the order to stop production on November 7, and simultaneously directed the utility to cut power supply to the plant. The company had not been informed of the order and had come to know about the decision only from the TNEB a day before the officials cut power supply.
The Tribunal, while granting interim relief, said that CPCB’s decision was a ‘clear case of violation of the principles of natural justice.’ It had not issued a show-cause notice to the company but had ordered it to stop operations even while asking it to comply with regulations.
The CPCB order also shows that following the inspection in April there had been no further communication on measures to be taken for compliance.
The Tribunal also observed that the company had the consent-to-operate clearance up to March 2014 from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
The Tribunal ordered notice to the respondents, including the CPCB, and posted the appeal to January 10.
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