2 min readChandigarhOct 31, 2019 05:04 AM IST
First published on: Oct 31, 2019 at 05:04 AM IST
The deputy commissioner of Jalandhar will be personally liable to implement the order. (Representational)
THE PUNJAB and Haryana High Court has ordered shutting down of all tanneries working in Jalandhar’s Leather Complex till they conform to norms for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants. The deputy commissioner of Jalandhar will be personally liable to implement the order, it said.
“The Jalandhar police commissioner is also directed to render police assistance to the Punjab Pollution Control Board’s (PPCB) regional office to close all leather tanneries,” the division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Harinder Singh Sidhu said in an order released on Wednesday.
Observing that prima facie, neither leather tanneries nor the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) outlet are conforming to norms, the court said the situation has further polluted a stream called Kala Sanghian.
“All tanneries working in the Leather Complex, Jalandhar, are ordered to be shut down till they conform to Schedule-1 (16) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, till further orders,” the division bench said.
Schedule-1 (16) of the Environment (Protection) Rules lists standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from industries, processes or operations and their maximum permissible limits of concentration.
The order was passed after PPCB conceded before the high court that the leather tanneries and CETP are not conforming to the norms and guidelines prescribed in Item No. 16 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The state government also placed on record a report prepared by the Sophisticated Analytical Instruments Laboratories Society of the Punjab Affluent Treatment Society for Tanneries, Kapurthala Road, Jalandhar, which shows that the tanneries were not adhering to norms.
The deputy commissioner of Jalandhar will be personally liable to implement the order. (Representational)
Share
