Madras High Court upholds closure decision of Tiruvottriyur ice factory

CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has upheld the orders of the State government and the Pollution Control Board directing an ice factory, which was in existence for about five decades at Tiruvottriyur, to close down forthwith.  

A Bench of Justices R Subbiah and P D Audikesavalu upheld the closure orders, while dismissing a petition from S Selva Rajendran on March 16 last.

Ammonia, the main ingredient for manufacturing ice, is listed as a toxic chemical in Part II of Schedule 1 of the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, as amended in 2000 and it meets the toxicity criteria specified in Part 1(a) of Schedule 1.

Therefore, for running an ice unit, there is a bounden duty on the part of the petitioner company to provide evidence to show that he has identified the major accident, has taken adequate steps to prevent such accidents and to limit their consequences to persons working there and the environment, and has provided the workers with the information, training and equipment, including antidotes necessary to ensure their safety. But, in the instant case, petitioner has not established the above criteria. Therefore, it is immaterial whether it is one time storage or isolated storage.

Petitioner has to establish that he is handling ammonia as prescribed under Rules 2(i) of Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, which he has miserably failed to do. “Therefore, we do not find any infirmity in impugned closure order passed by the Board,” the Bench said.

Rejecting the petitioner’s another contention that the restrictions imposed under the Coastal Regulation Zone notification are not applicable to the petitioner’s unit since it is in existence from 1969, the Bench said a series of complaints were sent to the Pollution Control Board with regard to the frequent ammonia gas leakage from the petitioner ice factory.

In fact, one of the complaints given by one Shahin Banu in May 2014 stated that ammonia gas was leaking from the factory frequently and that her family was continuously exposed to the gas. She and her five-year-old child were severely affected by the gas leak. That apart, there was another complaint by one H Ashok Kumar on behalf of M K International Realty Pvt Ltd, dated April 2, 2014, alleging that groundwater on the premises was contaminated with ammonia and persons who drank the water were facing health-related problems.

From the above facts and circumstances of the case, it is seen that the petitioner’s ice factory has not taken any measure to provide safety system for processing ammonia. Considering the risk posed by the unit to the surrounding residents, the authorities have rightly rejected the request of the petitioner for grant of consent to operate the unit at the subject land.

“Hence, considering all the above facts and circumstance, we do not find any infirmity in the impugned orders passed by the authorities. We do not find any valid reason to make an interference with the impugned order,” the Bench added and dismissed the petition.