Kerala High Court forms expert committee to address Periyar river pollution

The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the formation of an expert committee to study and come up with suggestions and solutions to tackle Periyar river pollution [Association of Green Action Force v Union of India & Ors and connected cases].A division bench of Chief Justice AJ Desai and Justice VG Arun asked the committee to submit a comprehensive report in this regard.The committee shall consist of the Secretary of the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Kerala, the Regional Director of Central Pollution Control Board of the Regional Directorate at Bangalore and the Chairman of Kerala State Pollution Control Board."The Committee shall file their report containing the suggestions and action to be taken to curb the pollution in the Periyar river," the Court ordered..The Court was hearing petitions filed by the Association of Green Action Force, activist KSR Menon and Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithi. They alleged that the Periyar River was heavily polluted due to the discharge of harmful chemicals from nearby industries. Periyar is the longest and one of the most important rivers in Kerala and is the lifeline of central Kerala including the commercially important district of Ernakulam..The Court after examining the report and photographs submitted by amicus curiae Ananthakrishnan A Kartha, recognized the severe impact of industrial effluents on the river's ecosystem and stated that, "the discharge of industrial effluents into the river is hazardous to human beings, flora and fauna."The Court also noted that despite the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directive to clean up the Periyar River, effective measures were yet to be taken.It observed that the government authorities as well as the committee formed pursuant to the 2020 order of NGT had failed to curb the pollution caused by industrial units in the Eloor - Edayar industrial belt where industrial pollutants continued to contaminate the river."Prima facie, we are of the opinion that the Committee constituted pursuant to the order passed by the National Green Tribunal way back in the year 2020 or the Central Pollution Control Board or the Kerala State Pollution Control Board have not taken appropriate steps to curb the pollution in and around Periyar river," the bench stated.Therefore, it proceeded to direct the formation of expert committee to study and come up with solutions to tackle the problem.It directed the committee to include representatives from the petitioner's side and the amicus curiae in their site visits to assess the extent of pollution in and around the Periyar River.The matter will be heard again on July 3. .[Read Order]