The Uttarakhand High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed alleging policy with respect to the distance of a screening plant from a school.
The petitioner in the petition has referred to policy dated 19.11.2016 in respect of stone crusher and screening plant and per the chart, the distance of a screening plant from a school, educational institution, hospital and nursing home has to be 100 meters, as per this policy.
The petitioner has further stated that the screening plant of respondent No. 5 was set up in 2018.
On notice on the petition, a reply dated 26.12.2023 has been filed by respondent No. 2, i.e., State Pollution Control Board, and they have placed on record the latest policy dated 21.07.2020, issued by the State Government, and in this policy the distance parameters have been revised.
As per revised parameters the distance of a screening plant from school, hospital and nursing home should be 300 meters. However, in the policy , in Chapter III, Section 2, it is provided that the new parameters of distance will not be applicable to the pre-existing units, and rest of the conditions in the policy dated 21.07.2020 will be followed by all the units.
Since the policy has clarified that distance parameters have not to be changed, the initial distance is to be followed, which requires 100 meters distance from the school, hospital and nursing home , the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari observed.
In reply filed by the respondent No. 2 it is mentioned that as per the inspection report one School is situated about 190 meters south and Kosi river is situated at a distance of 600 meters, and the distances fulfill the standards as prescribed in a stone crusher policy of 2016.
Since the policy of distance which is to be followed by the respondent No. 5 is 2016 policy, and this condition is duly fulfilled, no cause of action survives in the public interest litigation. Therefore the Court disposed of the PIL and granted liberty to the Petitioner to make a representation, if so advised, to the State Government if any cause of action still survives.