SC notice to Coca-Cola on Plachimada unit

The Supreme Court (SC) today issued a notice to soft drinks major Coca Cola on a plea by the Perumatty gram panchayat seeking to stay two Kerala High Court orders that allowed the company's Plachimada-based bottling unit to draw five lakh litres of groundwater every day.

A bench, comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice B N Srikrishna,  tagged the application with the main petition challenging the April 7 order of the High Court.

The High Court had ordered the panchayat to renew the licence of Hindustan Coca Cola Bevarages to enable it to draw groundwater.

The bench also issued a notice to the Kerala government on the application filed by the panchayat.

The panchayat has contended that it had a right to refuse drawal of large quantities of groundwater by Coca Cola keeping in view the interests of agriculture and domestic consumers.