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Judgment
Jawahar Lal Gupta, J.—The petitioner prays for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing Respondents Nos. 1 to 5 to take appropriate action for closing down the Oil Mills being run by Respondent No. 6. A few facts may be noticed.
2 The petitioner is a Society of the residents of the Shastri Nagar, Ambala City, It has filed the present writ petition in public interest. The petitioner alleges that the Shastri Nagar "is in existence since 1960 in the Ambala City". Initially, a separate industrial area had been carved out. In the year 1994, Swastik Oil Mill, Hissar Road was installed in the vicinity of the residential area. According to the petitioner, respondent No. 6 had set up the Oil Mill in an unauthorised manner on account of its influence and political connections. It is further alleged that boilers of huge capacity and volume have been installed in the factory premises "which could be fatal for the residents....." According to the petitioner, no licence under the ''Explosives Act'' had been obtained by Respondent No. 6. The Mill releases gases full of foul smell polluting the whole atmosphere. The Boilers release gas-steam with very loud noise throughout the day and night and vapours of the steam engulf the whole atmosphere like clouds. Poisonous gaseous substances which irritate the eyes and lead to respiratory problems are released. As a result, the residents find it difficult to breathe in open air. These disturb the life of the residents of the locality. It has been further alleged that the Mill has thrown mud on the municipal passage and blocked the drainage of the area. As a consequence, dirty water has accumulated on the passage near the Mill. A pond has been formed on the shallow land. The drainage made by the Municipal Committee has been blocked. It remains full of ''filthy water''. It can cause diseases in the area. The effluent discharged by the Mill pollutes the drinking water. The residents of the area made complaints to the official respondents and requested them to stop the further functioning of the factory. Respondents Nos. 1 to 5 having failed to take any action, the petitioner has approached this Court through the present writ petition. The petitioner maintains that the Mill has been established without taking care of the -ecology. In pursuance to the complaint submitted by the petitioner, Respondent No. 3, the Director, Department of Industries had called the petitioner on Oct. 20, 1994. The representative of the Society had appeared before the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Ambala a number of times but nothing fruitful was done. The respondents have failed to carry out their constitutional and legal duties. Consequently, the petitioner prays for the issue of a direction restraining respondent No. 6 from running the factory.
Separate written statements have been filed by different respondents. In the written statement filed on behalf of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (Respondent No. 2), it has been inter alia mentioned that the Unit was established without obtaining ''consent''. Letters dated Sept. 2, 1994 and May 3, 1995 had been written to respondent No. 6 to apply for ''consent''. Since the Unit had not applied of ''consent'', it had been declared as a ''non-applicant''. Allegations of connivance with or favouritism to the Unit have been denied. It has been further pointed out that the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala has been requested to initiate action u/s 133, Cr.P.C. against the Unit. Action under Sections 31-A(a), A(b) and 33-A(a), A(b) has been initiated against the Unit by directing the Haryana State Electricity Board to disconnect the electric supply. Copies of the communications addressed to respondent No. 6 and the Board etc. have also been produced with the written statement.
In the written statement filed on behalf of respondent No. 5 a Municipal Committee, it has beens inter alia stated that the Mill was established without obtaining any permission and as such, it has been challaned u/s of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973. It was also challaned u/s 158 for discharging water on the road. Both the proceedings are pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ambala. With regard to the allegation that the drinking water has been polluted, it has been mentioned that no such instance "has come to the notice of the" respondent. Rest of the allegations have been controverted.
Respondent No. 6 has filed a separate written statement. It has been stated that the Industry had been established in the year 1987. Various licences etc. were granted by the Sales Tax Department, the Industries Department and loan was sanctioned by the Haryana Financial Corporation as well as by the Bankers. The houses in the vicinity of the Unit have been constructed in late 1992 and 1993. All the formalities as prescribed under the law were fulfilled at that time. Allegations regarding pollution etc. have been denied. Affidavits of the persons living in the area have been produced with the written statement. Accordingly, it has been stated that the petitioners who are living at a far of place have no cause for grievance. The respondent prays that the writ petition should be dismissed.
The petitioner has filed a replication controverting the claim made by the respondent in the written statement. A rejoinder has also been filed by respondent No. 6. No written statement has been filed by respondents Nos. 1, 3 and 4.
This case had come up for hearing before a Bench of this Court to which one of us (M.L. Koul, J.) was a party when it had been noticed that counsel for respondent No. 2 had stated that "the Engineer of the Pollution Board will visit the factory premises of respondent No. 6 within a week and report to this Court about the steps required to be taken by the Mill with regard to air and water pollution." In pursuance to this undertaking given to the Court on January 9, 1996, a report dated Feb. 2, 1996 along with the covering letter written by the ''Engineer'' to the Member Secretary of the Board was placed before the Court. The report as also the letter are taken on record as Mark ''A''. It was reported that respondent No. 6 is running two units. The first is Swastik Oil Mills which had come into production in the year 1988. With regard to this unit, it was observed that no trade effluent is discharged. Only a small quantity of water is used for the boiler. As such, no measures for any pollution control were required.
The second unit is M/s. Radhika Agro Industries Private Limited. It is situated in the same premises. This unit had come into production in the year 1994. It was observed that "the unit is discharging trade effluent without any treatment outside the factory which is accumulating on the road/land. The pollution control devices to control water pollution should be in the form of oil and Grease trap, collecting-cum-equilisation tank, Aeration tank, settling tank and sludge beds." With regard to air pollution, it was observed that "the Unit is having one Locotype boiler (Horizontal) in which wood is used as fuel. The stack height attached to the boiler is approximately 70 ft. above ground level. The unit has neither been provided sampling facility on the stack nor any air pollution control measures. The Air pollution control measures in the form of Cyclone/dust collector should be provided by the Unit."
This report was produced before us on April 16, 1996. Learned counsel for the petitioner had alleged that the unit was causing pollution. On behalf of the respondent No. 6, it was stated that there was no pollution. In this situation, learned counsel for the parties made a statement before us that a Local Commissioner be appointed to inspect the spot. The counsel had "agreed that Mr. R.S. Bains, Advocate be appointed as the Local Commissioner to inspect the spot and report with regard to" the area of the land in which units were located, the size of the Boiler(s), the fuel being used, the amount and extent of emission which may be visible at the site and the steps if any that might have been taken by the respondents to prevent pollution. Accordingly, vide our order of April 16, 1996, we had appointed Mr. R.S. Bains, Advocate as the Local Commissioner.
Mr. Bains submitted his report dated April 24, 1996. According to this report, he had visited the factory premises of respondent No. 6 on April 19, 1996 and remained there from 11.30a.m. to 3 p.m. He had also visited the factory premises on the next day on April 20, 1996 for about two hours. According to his report, the factory is located in an area of 2500 square yards. The first unit is spread over a rectangular plot of 600 square yards. Similarly, the second unit is also spread over an area of 600 square yards. The remaining area is an open space of about 1300 square yards. He has also produced 17 coloured photographs taken from different angles to show the position of the unit. His observations are as under:--
(1) Swastik Oil Mills:
Oil is extracted from seeds by means of expellers. It is filtered and sold or it is sent to the refinery for further purification. The cake is sold to the soap manufacturing units. A small boiler is used for heating the oil. Its diamter is 2 ft. and its height is 7 and 1/2 ft. Common wood weighing 20 to 30 kgms is used every 12 hours. There is no waste material. The operation of the machine is silent. The ''small boiler hardly throws any smoke.''
(ii) Radhika Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd.
The raw oil produced from the seeds through expellers is refined to make it colourless and odourless. The process involves heating the oil and vacuum with steam for which a boiler is 22 ft. long and its height is 6.5 ft. The diameter of the boiler is 4.25 ft. Common wood weighing 200 kgms is used during 12 hours. A Chimney is attached to this boiler. It is exactly 67.5 ft. high with diameter of 1.75ft.
During the refining process, there is no contract of oil fumes with outer air as the big container in which the oil is heated are air sealed. The by-product of the Mill is bleached earth or spent earth which is being collected in the plot in a specially prepared pool and is sold at the rate of 50-70 n.p. per kg. There are tanks where the spent earth is settled. There is a ''circulating water cooling system in the open area.''
Thereafter, the Local Commissioner has given his observations regarding the effluent and pollution. These are to the following effect:--
(i) Outside the factory boundary walls, he saw no waste material being dumped. The wood coal ash, the spent earth and soap stock are the three waste materials which come out of the process of the two Mills. The wood coal ash is thinly spread over in the vacant plot. The other two products are sold. He saw no sign or heap of the spent earth or soap stock outside the factory premises. On taking round of the factory premises, the Local Commis- sioner found "on one side a dirty water pond with pigs fed with domestic sewerage water of the colony."
(ii) There are about 12 to 20 workers depending on the production of oil. The waste water from their bathing and washing "goes into the common pond and open chocked sewerage. The real problem seems to be of drainage of domestic sewerage rather than of industrial waste. The colony is a low lying area with no visible drainage system. The factory has been constructed with higher plinth level with the result that around it on one side had collected rain water and output from domestic sewerage of houses of the colony. The construction of a pucca drain in the street in front of the factory may resolve the problem to some extent but then the water will make a pond about sixty meters ahead adjacent to a petrol pump as there is no proper drainage facility provided by the Municipality for the colony and the factory for normal domestic sewerage."
(iii) There was no visible smoke from the chimney while it was working. One of the partners of respondent No. 6 admitted that in the beginning of the day when the boiler is ready for firing, dark smoke comes out of the Chimney for about half an hour but as the boiler heats up the smoke gradually decreases and becomes colourless. The camera could not catch the smoke coming out of the chimney.
(iv) The facts were "cross-checked with a standard publication of Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi which is annexed with this report. Most of the facts arc correct. The norms regarding chimney height were verified from the Pollution Control Cell of the Chandigarh Administration". According to him, the standard norm is that the chimney height ought to be 2.5 times the height of the highest buildings in whose vicinity the factory is situated. By that norm also, the chimney was much higher than the highest building in the vicinity.
(v) The operation of the Mill is almost silent. The expellors make very little noise. Outside the factory premises, no odour of any industrial effluent is detectable except the foul smell of stagnant water of domestic sewerage and of pigs habitat. According to the Local Commissioner, the air pollution is not visible to the eye.
At the end, the Local Commissioner has recorded the following conclusion:--
"To sum up there is no noise or water or sordid waste pollution visible to the senses attributable to the factory. No noxious odour is present. Only exhaust of the chimney due to burning of 200 kgs of fuel wood is there but that too the smoke is colourless except in the beginning when the boiler is to be fired/ started."
On April 26, 1996, the learned counsel for the parties had made a request for short adjournment to enable them to inspect and see the report. Accordingly, the case was adjourned to May 7, 1996. On that day, learned counsel for the petitioner was not present. However, learned counsel for respondent No. 2, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board had after perusal of the report stated that instructions "shall be sent to the Haryana State Electricity Board immediately and the supply of power to respondent No. 6 shall be restored". This was symbolic of the fact that the Board accepted the report. The absence of the learned counsel for the petitioner in view of the findings of the Local Commissioner was understandable. However, we had adjourned the case to May 16, 1996 when the case was taken up for hearing.
We have heard Mr. K.K. Thakur, counsel for the petitioner as also the counsel for the respondents.
A perusal of the report submitted by the Board (Respodent No. 2) shows that so far as Swastik Oil Mill is concerned, no pollution whatsoever is being caused. In case of Radhika Oil Mill, it has undoubtedly been stated that the unit is using water and discharging trade effluent outside the factory. However, a perusal of the report submitted by Mr. Bains shows that the oil is heated in a sealed container. The by-product is spent earth which is collected in the plot and sold. The tanks are there in the factory premises where the spent earth is settled. Water is used only for the cooling system. It has been specifically stated that the dirty water which has settled at one side of the factory is on account of the domestic sewerage of the colony. It has been further found that there is no visible drainage system.
These findings have not been controverted by the petitioner even by filing an affidavit. No evidence has been produced to show that these are wrong. Still further, even with regard to air pollution, nothing has been pointed out to show that the factory is causing any objectionable pollution. Even in the report at Mark ''A'', besides observing that the Unit has not provided sampling facility or installed any air pollution control measures, it has not been stated that in fact there is any pollution. Mr. Bains''s report shows that except (or the initial half an hour, the smoke is colourless. His observations are amply borne out or at least fully corroborated by the seventeen coloured pictures attached with the report.
Mr. Bains is not a layman. He is an Engineering Graduate. He has worked as an Electrical Engineer in the Navy. He has taught in the Engineering College for a few years before taking to the profession of law. He has taken meticulous care to give details. He has produced 17 photographs with his report. These support the observations as given by him in the report. A perusal of the report shows that the sixth respondent is not causing any objectionable pollution. Even the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has filed no objections.
In this situation, we find no ground to order that the Oil Mill should be closed. In any case, the Municipal Committee as well as the Board have already initiated certain proceedings under the relevant statutes. No interference under Art. 226 of the Constitution is called for. Accordingly, we dismiss this writ petition.
Respondent No, 6 has paid the fee and expenses of me Local Commissioner amount- ing to about Rs. 10,000/-. Normally, we would have been inclined to order the petitioner to pay the costs to respondent No. 6. However, since the petition was filed in public interest, we make no order as to costs.
Petition dismissed.