The National Green Tribunal has appointed a local commissioner to inspect the premises of beverages major Coca Cola’s Hapur plant in Uttar Pradesh and probe whether it was discharging effluents into a nearby pond.
The green panel directed Coca Cola to pay Rs.20,000 as fees to the Court Commissioner and asked him to video-graph and take pictures of the work done and file his report.
“Considering the gravity of the allegations made against each other and its impact on the merits of the matter before us, we appoint advocate Palash Agarwal as a Court Commissioner to visit the premises of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverage Pvt Ltd. He will carry out the local investigation as regards the boundary wall of the said company in the presence of the applicant and a representative of Respondent No 4 (Coca-Cola) and place before us the fact concerning the photographs,” a Bench headed by Justice U. D. Salvi said.
The directive came after petitioner Sanjay Kumar, who has sought restraint on the alleged illegal discharge of untreated waste water, submitted photographs before the Bench showing effluents being released from the northern side of the boundary wall of the premises into the pond.
The counsel appearing for Coca-Cola refuted the claims and asked the Tribunal to appoint local commissioner to inspect the site in question and submit correct facts with regard to the boundary wall of the company.
( Source – PTI )
