PURUSHOTHAMAN Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The lis on hand has been instituted to quash the order passed by the Assistant Director of Fisheries Department, Tiruvallur dtd. 11/10/2018 asking the petitioners to close down the Prawn Culture Unit which is organised without getting due permission from the Competent Authority under the Statutes and Rules in force.

(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner Mr.R.Shanmugam would submit that the order impugned has been passed without jurisdiction and beyond the scope of the provisions of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 [hereinafter referred as 'Central Act'] and the rules framed thereunder. The Fisheries Department can regulate the Aquaculture farms organised within the Coastal Regulations Zone. In the present case, the land belongs to the petitioners is falling beyond the Coastal Regulation Zone which is admitted by the respondents. That being so, the question of obtaining permission from the Coastal Authorities under the Central Act would not arise at all. Permission needs to be obtained from the Coastal Authorities only for the Prawn Culture farms organised within the Coastal Regulation Zone. Since, the subject land not being a land situate within the limits of Coastal Regulation Zone, seeking permission would not arise at all.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioners would further submit that nearly about 300 Aquaculture farms are in operation in Tiruvallur District in Tamil Nadu alone and all such Prawn Cultures are allowed to carry on their activities and therefore, the ill motivated complaint given by the 7th respondent against the petitioners farm ought not to have been entertained by the Authorities for the purpose of issuing the impugned order.