GM, MD of chemical unit convicted for river pollution

MUMBAI, MARCH 14: After a seven-year-long court battle, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) regional office in Jalgaon has manage...

MUMBAI, MARCH 14: After a seven-year-long court battle, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s (MPCB) regional office in Jalgaon has managed to bring to book a chemcial unit for causing river pollution. Two senior officials of a Synthozyme Chemicals in Jalgaon have been sentenced to one-year simple imprisonment for not ensuring proper disposal of effluents generated by their factory.

Managing Director P S Lalwani and General Manager V K Vora have also been fined Rs 2,000 each. The company, on its part, has to pay a paltry sum of Rs 3,000 for all the toxic waste it has dumped into Tapi river over the years. This is the fourth conviction the Board has managed and the only one which has not yet been dismissed in an appeal in a higher court.

The two have been convicted under sections of the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974. In his judgement, Chief Judicial magistrate (Jalgaon) V G Gawai said: “It is seen from the evidence available on record that the accused persons, in spite of the letters issued by the complainant from time to time have not complied with the terms and conditions laid down in the consent order…. It is essential during the growth of industries to curb such offences. Though the accused persons are first-time offenders, the offence is against the public at large.”

“This case is special because we have a very difficult time convincing the court,” says a MPCB official. “Most of our cases are based on one-time sample collections and even a negligible error is enough for the case to be thrown out of court. This time we have fought the odds and proved beyond resonable doubt the role of the accused.”

Synthozyme Laboratories in Jalgaon was into the production of chemicals that involved the use of caustic soda, acetic acid, acetic anhydride, liquid ammonia and hydrochloric acid, among others in the manufacturing process. The toxic pollutants generated after the production of the acetate was being directly dumped into a nullah which ran into the Tapi river basin.

The unit was functioning without an effluent treatment plant. In 1987, the company had got consent to set up their plant from the pollution control board, subject to conditions pertaining to the proper disposal of the waste they generated. The consent was renewed in 1989.

However, during subsequent sample checks by the regional office of the MPCB in Jalgaon it was noticed that the company was not complying with the rules. Letters and notices were issued to the management of the company, asking them to get their disposal set-up in order or face criminal prosecution.

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A substantial quantity of the effluents discharged were collected by the regional office on December 18, 1990 and sent for analyses to the Regional Public Health Laboratory in Aurangabad. The laboratory report was submitted on January 15, 1991 and stated that the parameters of pH and suspended solids in the waste were not conforming to the prescribed standards.

Subsequently, the MPCB filed a criminal case against Synthozyme Laboratories in March 1992.

Previous cases

* Naik Ice and Cold storage (Ratnagiri) – June 13, 1990
Appealed and conviction order was set aside by the District Court.

* Metox Fine Chemicals (Pune) – September 30, 1994
Appealed and conviction order was set aside.

* Guj Petro-Chemicals – December 31, 1996
Appeal pending in the district court.