THE REPUBLIC OF INDIATHE SUPREME COURT CASE 647 OF 1996
VELLORE CITIZENS WELFARE FORUM...................PETITIONER
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS....................................RESPONDENTS
BEFORE: KULDIP SINGH, FAIZAN UDDIN AND K. VENKATASWANI, JJ
The petitioner filed this action to stop tanneries in the State of Tamil Nadu from discharging
untreated effluent into agricultural fields, waterways and open lands. Among other types of
environmental pollution caused by these tanneries, it’s estimated that nearly 35,000 hectares of
agricultural land in this tanneries belt has become either partially or totally unfit for cultivation,
and that the 170 types of chemicals used in the chrome tanning process have severely polluted the
local drinking water. The court had passed other orders relating to this case, and had monitored
this petition for almost five years.
HELD:
- Although the leather industry is a major foreign exchange earner for India and provides
employment, it does not mean that it has the right to destroy the ecology, degrade the
environment or create health hazards. - The court directs the Central Government to take immediate action under the
provisions of the Environment Protection Act of 1986 to create an authority with
powers to control pollution and protection of the environment. - The Central Government is ordered to establish an authority to deal with the situation
created by the tanneries and other polluting industries in the Tamil Nadu by
implementing precautionary principles and compensation to the victims to reverse this
environmental damage. - If polluters fail to pay compensation, their industries should be closed and the
compensation recovered as arrears of land revenue. If an industry sets up the necessary
pollution control devices now, it is still liable to pay for the past pollution it had
generated. - There should be an environment protection fund which will be used to restore the
environment and compensate the affected people. No new industries should be set up in
prohibited areas.
Matter to be monitored by the Special Bench, -“Green Bench”- of the Madras High Court.