Ecolex Logo
The gateway to
environmental law
Search results » Jurisprudence

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (P) Ltd. vs Perumatty Grama Panchayat.

Country/Territory
India
Type of court
National - higher court
Date
Apr 7, 2005
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
High Court of Kerala
Judge
Ramachandran, M.
Balachandran., K.P.
Reference number
2005 (2) KLT 554
Language
English
Subject
Water
Keyword
Groundwater Groundwater recharge Water shortage/drought Water abstraction Water rights
Abstract
A village governing body unanimously voted to cancel the license of the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd.'s (Coca-Cola's) bottling plant operations. The order noted, "die excessive exploitation of groundwater by the Coca-Cola Company in Plachimada is causing acute drinking water scarcity in Perumatty Panchayat and nearby places, it is resolved in public interest, not to renew the license of the said Company." This decision by the Panchayat (village council) body was challenged by Coca-Cola, and the state government stayed the cancellation and directed the Panchayat to create an expert committee to perform various environmental tests to ascertain the truth. The Panchayat appealed the state government decision to the High Court of Kerala, where a single judge accepted the argument of the Panchayat on the grounds that excessive extraction of a public resource by a private actor is against the public interest. Coca-Cola refuted the accusations of excessive exploitation and pollution and lodged an appeal. In 2005, the divisional bench of the High Court asserted that it did not find a sufficient reason to rule against the multinational's right to extract water, nor did it find the extraction of excessive natural resources to violate the law. The court further reasoned that Coca-Cola had properly exercised its property rights to extract water from its own property. As part of its decision, the appellate court noted that the Kerala High Court had imposed both impossible conditions and unworkable propositions, and thus acted unjustly against the multinational. The appellate court granted permission for the company to extract 500,000 litres from the common ground water per day in the year 2005-2006. The Court also affirmed that the Village Council was not justified in cancelling Coca Cola’s licence to operate until a full scientific assessment had been made of the facts. In the absence of express statutory provision, the Court held that, the panchayat has no authority to prohibit groundwater extraction by a private individual or company from its land. The Court rejected the scope of the Public Trust Doctrine as a theoretical basis to uphold the power of the panchayat and upheld the right of the landowner to extract groundwater from his land as a basic right that could be restricted only through express statutes.
Full text
COU-156026.pdf
Website
indiankanoon.org