HC orders closure of Electrotherm’s Bhachau plant

A division bench of the Gujarat high court has ordered the cancellation of the environment clearance granted to Electrotherm India Ltd's plant at Shamkhiyali in Bhachau taluka of Kutch district.

The court's order came after it was brought to the notice of the bench that the environment clearance was granted without public consultation.

The bench of acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala has also asked for the company to stop production at the plant with immediate effect.

"The company has also been asked to shut down the plant within ten days," said Tejas Barot, counsel for the petitioner Ramji Patel.

Arguing for the petitioner, Barot said the company was granted environment clearance in 2010 for expansion of its plant by the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) despite clear indications of blatant violations of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notifications.

"Both the MoEF which granted it clearance and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) which gave the company a no-objection certificate (NOC) completely ignored the fact that earlier site visits by both had revealed serious irregularities on the part of the firm," said Barot.

The plant is used to manufacture TMT bars. The petition further alleged that contrary to the rules, the GPCB had granted NOC to the company even before it was given environment clearance by the MoEF.