Sit-in dharna in front of Malbros Factor at Zira : Court fines Rs.15 Cr to Punjab government
Sit-in dharna in front of Malbros Factor at Zira : Court fines Rs.15 Cr to Punjab government
Ferozepur, November 30, 2011: The Punjab and Haryana High Court in the cases of Malbros Int’l Vs State of Punjab and others, has fined Rs.15 Crore on Punjab government with instructions to deposit within a period of one week.
The government has failed to lift the dharna putting a huge losses to the factory. The villagers had been protesting in front of the Malbros International Pvt Ltd. factory at Zira and the District Magistrate to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident has banned to stage a sit-in/protest within 300 meters of the factory. The villages had alleged that the court residue is polluting the underground water and affecting the health of the people of the area. Whereas the NGT has given a clean chit to the factory after getting the soil and water tested from three different labs but the protesters are continuing with the protest.
The court has ordered that it has become imperative to issue notice to show cause to Addl.Chief Secretary(Home), Govt of Punjab, Addl. Director General of Police (Law and Order Punjab, the Deputy Commissioner Ferozepur as well as the SSP as to why the proceedings for contempt of the orders, directions and guidelines issued by the Supreme Court as well as Division Bench of this Court in the judgments noticed be not initiated against them.
In addition, the court has also ordered the DC Ferozepur to file an affidavit stating the details of the protesters at site who have stalled the operations of the petition No.1-Unit, the details of the properties held by such protesters and of their leaders shall also be furnished and the damage/loss suffered by the petitions or any other claimant. A committee has also been formed to assess the validity of the claims of Justice R.K.Nehru (Retd.) Chairman, a nomination of the State government not below the rank of Additional Commissioner in the department of excise and taxation and Babbar Bhan Advocate of Panchkula as non-official member. The committee has been asked to submit its report of the estimated loss/damage within a period of two months to the Court.
