DR. V.V. HARIDAS Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Since Common issues arise for consideration in these writ petitions, they were heard together and are disposed of by this common judgment. The respondents and the status in which they are arrayed in both writ petitions are the same and the exhibits referred to hereinbelow shall be as obtaining in W.P.(C) No.4367/2022.

(2.) The petitioner in W.P. (C). No. 24389 of 2021 is a Company which is engaged in the business of running hospitals and has a 63 bed hospital at Thaneermukkam Grama Panchayat, the 3rd respondent (hereinafter referred to as the 'Panchayat'). The petitioner is aggrieved by Ext. P3 resolution dtd. 28/9/2021 of the Panchayat permitting the setting up of a Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP) by the 2nd respondent, the Cherthala Municipality ('Municipality' for short), in the puramboke property vested in the Panchayat and lying adjacent to the premises of the petitioner. According to the petitioner, the land where the FSTP is proposed to be set up is a community property vested in the Panchayat and can be used only for the benefit of the villagers as specified in Sec. 171 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as 'K P R Act' for short), and not for the use of the residents of the Municipality. The petitioner contends that, the decision of the Panchayat to set up the FSTP is vitiated by political reasons and is against the norms of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, the 4th respondent.

(3.) The petitioner in W.P. (C). No. 4367 of 2022 is the Director and Chief Medical Officer of K.V.M. Hospital, Cherthala and is aggrieved by the proposal to set up the aforesaid FSTP in the community property vested in the Panchayat and lying adjacent to his premises. According to the petitioner, the distance between the proposed FSTP and his hospital is only 34 meters and the same violates the conditions prescribed by the Pollution Control Board in Ext. P3 'consent to establish' the plant and that there is no proper and scientific procedure for handling the treated water and slurry. The petitioner, therefore, seeks for a direction to quash Ext. P1 resolution of the Panchayat (Ext. P3 in W.P. (C). No. 24389 of 2021) and Ext. P3 'consent to establish' the plant issued by the Pollution Control Board.