SC notice to Coke

The Supreme Court today issued notice to Coca-Cola after a Kerala gram panchayat appealed against a Kerala High Court order allowing the company to operate its plant after fulfilling certain conditions.

Though the Perumatty panchayat in Palakkad district had sought a stay of the high court order, the apex court did not grant it as the judges promised to decide the issue in a few months.

Claiming it as a victory, Coca-Cola's counsel, Rajinder Sharma, said after the hearing that "because of the non-grant of stay of the operation of the high court order as requested by the panchayat, the company is looking forward to open its plant as soon as possible".

The Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada has been in the eye of a storm for several years as the village panchayat has charged the company with exhausting its precious water supply.

Environmentalists and the people of the village had opposed the project, following which the panchayat refused to renew the licence. Coca-Cola then moved the Kerala High Court against the panchayat and got a conditional order in its favour.

The high court allowed the company to run the plant after getting the necessary clearances from the state pollution control board and under the Factories Act. If it obtained the clearances, Coca-Cola could draw up to 500,000 litres of water daily.

But the panchayat did not renew the licence on the grounds that the clearances were not furnished by the company. It also appealed to the apex court for interim relief against the high court order.