LISSY PAUL Vs. NJARAKKAL GRAMA PANCHAYATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in W.P.(C) No.19278 of 2017, who is a woman entrepreneur, has set up a Dry Cleaning and Power Laundry Service in her building. The petitioners in W.P.(C) No.20955 of 2017 object to the carrying on of the unit for multifarious reasons. The parties are referred to as "entrepreneur" and "objectors".

(2.) The contention of the entrepreneur in her writ petition is that she had set up a small unit as seen from Exhibit P3, which is registered under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India, as per Exhibit P1. The entrepreneur has obtained a Consent to Establish at Exhibit P2 and a Consent to Operate at Exhibit P3, from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board [for brevity "PCB"]. The industry is classified as "green" category and the entrepreneur was issued with licenses for the respective years at Exhibits P4 and P5, by the Panchayat. While the entrepreneur was so carrying on the unit, the entrepreneur was issued with Exhibit P12 stop memo, which directed the entrepreneur to get a report from the Medical Officer or permission from the PCB and also a No Objection Certificate from the Fire and Rescue Services Department. It was also directed in Exhibit P12 that the unit carried on with machinery, has to be stopped immediately.

(3.) The entrepreneur filed the above writ petition contending that the entrepreneur already has a Consent to Establish, and Operate from the PCB and also that the unit is under "green" category and in such circumstance, there is no requirement for a NOC from the DMO. It is also contended that the Panchayat had issued a licence based on which the entrepreneur is carrying on a small unit in the premises.