HC stays restored NOC to explosives unit

The Madras High Court today stayed the restoration of no-objection-certificate to an explosives processing unit in Tiruchirapalli district, where a fire and subsequent blasts had claimed 19 lives on December 1, 2016.

A Madurai bench of justices C T Selvam and Basheer Ahamed stayed the NOC to Vetrivel Explosives on a plea by a resident of Murgapatti village, where the unit is located.

The village resident, K Periyasamy had challenged the NOC's restoration of the plant, contending that it had been done illegally under an improper exercise of jurisdiction by the district revenue officer (DRO) on March 23, 2018.

On Periyasamy's petition, the court also issued notices to the state's chief controller of explosives, the Tiruchirapalli district collector and the DRO, directing them to file their replies to the plea within four weeks