Bombay High Court grants temporary relief from closure to Baramati Agro

The Bombay High Court on Friday temporarily extended the time to comply with an order to shut down manufacturing units of Baramati Agro Limited, a sugar factory company controlled by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) lawmaker Rohit Pawar, who is the grandnephew of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar..After the company approached the High Court for relief, a division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Manjusha Deshpande extended the time to comply with the closure order till 5 PM on October 6 and posted the case for further hearing on that date..Appearing for the sugar company, Senior Advocate JP Sen told the High Court that the company had been served with the closure order by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) before dawn on September 28, 2023, at 2 AM in the morning. The MPCB had ordered the company to close its distillery unit within 72 hours of the order, which was issued by its Pune regional office on September 27, 2023..The company's petition, filed through advocate Akshay Shinde, contended that the MPCB order was violative of Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution as it had the effect of depriving the sugar company of its fundamental right to carry out business and trade. The petition argued that the order to close the unit was politically motivated and an extremely stringent and disproportionate action. “The order has been passed owing to political influence and considering the present political situation to pressurize the director of Baramati Agro, Rohit Pawar who is also a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra”, the petition stated..The plea added that MPCB had failed to scientifically assess the actual damage or the harm that may have been caused to the environment due to the alleged activities by Baramati. As such, the regional officer of the MPCB has failed to consider the true spirit of the Water and Air Act, the plea said.The company also claimed that since 2007-08, when the unit had been set up, there was not a single instance of environmental violation nor a show cause notice issued to the company.It also informed that Baramati Agro has invested an amount of ₹218.1667 crores for the expansion of its distillery units after May 2023..This is not the first time that an action has been initiated against the company. Earlier this year, a first information report (FIR) was lodged against Baramati Agro alleging disobedience of an order of a public servant.The criminal complaint in that case was filed by a Member of the Legislative Council from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ram Shinde, who had lost to Pawar in the 2019 assembly elections. In that case, the High Court temporarily stayed criminal proceedings initiated against the company. The matter is presently pending before the Court. .[Read order]