COMPENDIUM OF SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN ENVIRONMENT RELATED CASES

INDIA

India - Liability of Company Officers, Water Pollution

U.P. POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD v. M/S. MODI DISTILLERY and others

AIR 1988 SC 1128 A. P. SEN and NATARAJAN, JJ.

Introduction

M/S. Modi Distillery situated at Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad was engaged in the manufacture of industrial alcohol and was discharging highly noxious effluents into the Kali River in contravention of a statutory requirement to obtain a permit from the Pollution Control Board. The issue before Court was whether the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Members of the Board, were liable to be proceeded against under Section 47 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in the absence of a prosecution of the Company owning the industry.

Legal Framework

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974.

Held

The Court held that on a combined reading of sub sections (1) and (2) of Section 47 of the Act, it had no doubt that the Chairman, Managing Director, and members of the Board of Directors of Messers Modi Industries Limited, the Company owning the plant in question, could be prosecuted as having been in charge of and responsible to the company for the business of the industrial unit and could be deemed guilty of the offence for which they are charged.