Kochi: Kerala High Court today (Dec 16, 2003) directed the Coca Cola bottling plant at Plachimedu in Palakaad district to stop drawing groundwater for its use in a month from today.

Justice K Balakrishnan Nair also directed the Perumatty Gram Panchayat, where the plant is located, and the state Government to ensure that plant does not extract groundwater after this time limit.

The month-long time has been given to enable the company to find out alternative sources of water, the court said.

The court also made it clear that the Panchayat should renew the company's licence if it was not extracting groundwater and was depending on other sources to meet its requirements.

Justice Nair also directed the Panchayat to ensure that all wells and bore wells of the company be closed down in a month from today.

The judgment was delivered on a writ petition by the Panchayat challenging the Government order permitting the company to function despite the closure notice issued by the Panchayat on the grounds of health hazards and over exploitation of ground water. The Panchayat had also issued a show cause notice to the company.

Justice Nair also said the Panchayat shall with assistance of ground water department point out the quantity of water which can be extracted.

The ground water department has been asked by the court to hold inspection at the plant site after giving notice to the Panchayat and the company.

The court also made provision to permit media to watch the inspection.

The arrangement of drawing water and its monitoring should be done in a transparent manner with access to Panchayat and media, the court said.

PTI