Today, On 3rd September, The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) approached the Supreme Court to challenge a High Court order regarding the Yatnal sugar factory in Chincholi. The factory, operated by Siddhasiri Souharda Sahakari Niyamit, a co-operative bank led by a BJP MLA, had received a closure notice from the KSPCB.
Bangalore: In a significant development regarding the dispute over the closure notice issued to a sugar and distillery factory linked to BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) moved the Supreme Court.
The KSPCB contends that the Karnataka High Court misled into granting an order favouring the factory. The closure notice originally issued to the sugar factory in Chincholi, operated by Siddhasiri Souharda Sahakari Niyamit (SSSN), a cooperative bank chaired by Yatnal.
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The factory began crushing sugarcane without obtaining the required Consent for Operation (CFO) from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), which identified regulatory violations at the facility between February 2023 and January 2024.
Siddhasiri Souharda Sahakari Niyamit (SSSN), the cooperative bank operating the factory, contested the closure notice in the Karnataka High Court, arguing that despite receiving environmental clearance (EC) from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in November 2023, the CFO was not granted.
The High Court referred to the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, noting that since the KSPCB did not object to the EC within 45 days, the factory deemed to have received the necessary clearance.
In its submission to the Supreme Court, the KSPCB argued that the expert committee granted EC to SSSN based on an office memorandum from the MoEF&CC, which allowed industries to obtain post-facto EC even without prior approval.
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However, this memorandum had been stayed by the Supreme Court, making the EC invalid. The KSPCB emphasized that SSSN did not follow the EIA notification’s rules to obtain prior EC before beginning operations and therefore could not invoke the notification’s deemed EC provision.
The KSPCB stated,
“The court failed to consider that a mandamus is applicable only when the applicant has a ‘legal right’ to seek legal remedy. However, in this case, SSSN, having no prior EC, ostensibly misled the honorable High Court into erroneously presuming the existence of a legal right,”
The issue became politically charged last week when Yatnal protested at the KSPCB office, accusing the Minister of Forest, Ecology, and Environment, Eshwar B. Khandre, of engaging in vendetta politics.
Khandre responded, stating,
“It is a fact that the Supreme Court has stayed the memorandum under which EC was granted to the SSSN factory. If we allow one violator to get post-facto clearance, it will open the door for many others. Ultimately, the apex court will hold us accountable for the violations. It is our job to ensure that we follow the legal procedure. If we allow the operations, we will be violating the apex court orders.”
Sources indicate that the Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on September 6.