Hundreds of tanneries operating in the heart of Calcutta metropolis got a reprieve when the Supreme Court yesterday extended the deadline for their closure to December 15 this year. According to an earlier order, the tanneries had to close down by September-end or move out.
Justice Suhas Sen and Justice S Saghir Ahmad declined the West Bengal governments request seeking two years time to prepare the land where the tanneries are to be moved. The government was categorically told that so much time would not be given in any case.
Advocate-general N N Gooptu told the court that 501 acres had been taken over but since it was one metre below the land level, it had to be filled up before handing over possession to the tanneries.
There is feverish activity going on at the site, the counsel said, and added that the monsoon was holding up the work. The tanneries, however, protested that nothing has been done so far despite assurances to the apex court.
The judges remarked that the state government had been repeatedly assuring the court since last year that the land was ready for allotment with the requisite infrastructure in place. The tanneries and lawyer-petitioner M C Mehta also asserted that the state government had always maintained that the land was ready for allotment.
The advocate-general denied making such statement and replied that the government did not even know, till May this year, as to how many tanneries were willing to move out to the new site. Only after the last date of payment of the 25 per cent down payment, does the government now know that 480 tanneries are willing to accept the plots, he said.
Gooptu said that part of the land acquired was enmeshed in litigation and there was an injunction against the government.
The advocate-general and the tanneries were at loggerheads in the court proceedings. The counsel said that whether or not the state government gave the land, it was the obligation of the tanneries to move out of the city. They are all polluting the city, he asserted. Now it is between the tanneries and Mehta, he said.
Gooptu said that the government was negotiating with the UNDP and Italian corporations for financial and technical assistance in the new project. The judges wanted a status report from the government by December 15. For that purpose, the hearing was adjourned till that date. The court heard several other cases on industries in Delhi, ordered to be closed down by the Supreme Court in its July 1996 judgment.
The court issued notice to Hindustan Insecticides for not paying the shifting bonus to the workers as ordered by the court. It also issued notice to the CPWD, which operate hot mix plants, on the same complaint by the workers. The court asked the partners of Rathi Steel Industries in Delhi and the Labour Commissioner to be present at the next hearing on a petition that more than 250 workers have not been paid wages since October last year.
Rathi Steel Industries is one of the industries named for polluting the capital.
