Green activists need a better legal vigil

Kochi: The two recent judgments by the National Green Tribunal (NGT)  in cases connected with the violations of environmental norms have brought to focus the need for a closer look at the judicial process and the struggle for ecological justice. The Chennai Bench of the NGT giving almost a clean chit to the Nitta Gelatin plant at Kathikudam in Thrissur came as a surprise to the activists engaged in a struggle against the plant for the past many years. According to them, the 227-page judgment is a bundle of contradictions.

The judgment calling for implementation of the 24 conditions listed by the study team of the Central Pollution Control Board for the functioning of the plant in principle endorses the substance of the arguments put forward by the activists. But at the same time, the judgment  also quotes the conclusions reached by other agencies to state that “there is no material to establish that the industry has discharged sludge along with the treated liquid effluent into the Chalakkudy river.”
Mr Jaison Panikkulangara,  president of the People’s Action Council spearheading the agitation against the Kathikudam plant, says the council is planning to file an appeal against the NGT verdict in the Supreme Court.

“The activists campaigning against the company have been leading their fight based on serious studies and research. I don’t think no other struggle against chemical pollution in the country has collected as much evidence as we have done in the case of Kathikudam,” he said. According to Mr. Panikkulangara even the company is not happy about the verdict as it has filed a review petition against the judgment and that is likely to come up for hearing in the next few days.

The NGT Bench  reinstating its order on the LPG terminal at Puthu Vypeen has also been touted as a setback for the people fighting against the project. According to  Mr M.D. Jaya Ghosh, leader of the action council spearheading the agitation,  the Indian Oil Corporation is trying to create an impression that the opponents of the project have  suffered a setback with the NGT verdict. “It is not right as the NGT verdict has only reinstated its earlier order which clearly states that the construction has to be in accordance with the conditions laid for the environmental clearance,” he said.

One of the primary conditions for the clearance of the project is that the construction should be 200 metres away from the high tide line. “The IOC will not be able fulfil  this condition as they are not having space within that limit,”  Mr Ghosh said. On why the activists failed to impress the NGT Bench about the violations by IOC,  he said the case was  still going on and the final judgment is yet to be pronounced in the case. Mr  Purushan Eloor, a green activist, also said that the substantial issues raised by the activists against the project in connection with the bottling plant would be coming before the NGT Bench only during the hearings in the coming days.