M NIZAMUDEEN Vs. CHEMPLAST SANMAR LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted in SLP (Civil) No. 7101 of 2009.

(2.) In this group of five matters before us, civil appeal is directed against the judgment of Madras High Court passed on October 31, 2008 whereby a writ petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the appellant - M. Nizamudeen - has been dismissed. Out of the other four matters; one is a writ petition being W.P. (C) No. 130 of 2009 preferred directly before this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution while the other three matters are transfer petitions seeking transfer of Writ Petition nos. 37043 of 2006, 8125 of 2007 and 23122 of 2007 filed before the Madras High Court.

(3.) M/s. Chemplast Sanmar Limited (for short, 'Chemplast') proposed to set up a project for manufacturing Poly-Vinyl Chloride (PVC) at Semmankuppam village, SIPCOT Industrial Complex, Phase-II, Cuddalore District (Tamil Nadu). An Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA) as well as Risk Analysis Report (RA) for the proposed PVC project was obtained by Chemplast and, then, they made proposal (vide application dated May 27, 2002) to the concerned authorities for setting up the said project. The feasibility of the project was considered by public hearing panel in the meeting held on June 7, 2002. The proposal of Chemplast was sent by the government of Tamil Nadu with its recommendations, after accepting the conditional consent issued by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (for short 'TNPCB'), to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India (for short, 'MOEF'). The MOEF examined the proposal submitted by the Chemplast in light of the questionnaire, EIA, RA and other relevant documents and accorded environmental clearance to the project proposed by Chemplast on November 28, 2005 subject to strict compliance to the specific and general conditions laid down therein.