Advocate Commissioner appointed for Poultry Farms violating the CPCB Guidelines January 2022 – Green Bench – Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice N. Mala. The above Writ Petition (W.P.No. 16368 of 2023 ) came up for hearing on 19.07.2023 before the Green Bench comprising Hon’ble Mrs. Justice J. Nisha Banu and Hon’ble
Advocate Commissioner appointed for Poultry Farms violating the CPCB Guidelines January 2022 – Green Bench – Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice N. Mala.
The above Writ Petition (W.P.No. 16368 of 2023 ) came up for hearing on 19.07.2023 before the Green Bench comprising Hon’ble Mrs. Justice J. Nisha Banu and Hon’ble
Mrs. Justice N. Mala. Learned Counsel, Mr. Harish Kumar, Partner of HSR Advocates and Legal Consultants, appeared for petitioner, made the submission that to forebear the poultry farm which is being constructed by violating the Environmental Guidelines for the Poultry Farm notified by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on January 2022 in light of the Hon’ble NGT order 16.09.2020 in the matter of O.A. No. 681 of 2017 (Gauri Maulekhi Vs. Union of India & Ors), Hon’ble NGT, passed the following order on 16th September, 2020:
“’Accordingly we allow this application and direct CPCB to revisit the guidelines for categorizing the poultry farms as Green category and exempting their regulation under Air, Water &E PAct. CPCB may issue fresh appropriate orders within three months and in if no further order is issued, all the State PCBs/PCCs will require enforcement of consent mechanism under the above acts after 01.01.2021 for all Poultry Farms above 5000 birds in the same manner as is being done for farms having more than one lac birds. Till then, even without such a consent mechanism, the state PCBs/PCCs may strictly enforce the environmental norms and take appropriate remedial action against any violation of water, air and soil standards statutorily laid down. “
It was also submitted that the said poultry farm is located within 500 meters of the Residential houses in the vicinity and that there are Amaravathi Irrigation canal and PAP canal which are near to the said poultry farm. In view of this, the unregulated farms would cause Environmental hazards and the health of the people and animals would also be affected and the state government authority is obliged to curtail the same.
In that regard, Clause 7 of the Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Farms, which was notified recently by the Central Pollution Control Board, is extracted hereunder;
“7. Siting Criteria
New Poultry Farms (Set up after issuance of Guidelines) should preferably be established:
- 500 m from residential zone in order to avoid nuisance caused due to odour & flies.
- 100 m from major water courses like Rivers, Lakes, canals and drinking water sources like wells, summer storage tanks, in order to avoid contamination due to leakages/spillages, if any.
- 100 m from National Highway (NH) and 50 m from State Highway (SH) in order to avoid nuisance caused due to odour & flies.
- 10-15 m from rural roads/internal roads/village pagdandis. ● The Poultry sheds should not be located within 10 m from farm boundary for cross ventilation and odour dispersion.’’
Further, the learned counsel of the petitioner also submitted that poultry farms are a source of odor, attract flies, rodents and other pests that carry disease. The emissions therefrom include gases like ammonia, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) that affect the life of the people living in that vicinity. The emission from the poultry farm and dumping of the waste in the soil would affect the agriculturists in the vicinity.
The Learned counsel for petitioner to buttress his submission had referred to the following Judgements:
- Gauri Maulekhi vs Union of India & Ors
- Poultry Farmers And Breeders Association vs Union Of India & Ors
Pre contra, the learned counsel for poultry farm owner made the submission that they had adhered to all Environmental guidelines and that it was also submitted that since the said poultry farm is planned to breed the chicken which is less than 5000, the CPCB will not be applicable and pleased to dismiss the said petition.
Besides, it was also submitted that the Petitioner’s house and said poultry farm are in the agricultural land and there are lots of farms in the said vicinity and that the Suguna and Anandhi farms in the said vicinity have not adhered to the CPCB guidelines.
In view of the aforesaid submissions made by either counsel, the Hon’ble Green Bench stated unless there is any restriction clause stating that CPCB guideline is only applicable to the DTCP approved land, it cannot be said it will not be applicable to Non Planned area as per DTCP. It was also observed that respondent counsel’s contentions are devoid/bereft of merits. In this regard, there were lots of contrary statements made between both counsels and it was also noted that the Other Farms i.e. Suguna and Anandhi Farms in the said panchayat are still existing despite violating the said CPCB Guidelines. Therefore, the Hon’ble Green Bench, in order to maintain conducive environment, ordered to appoint the Advocate Commissioner for clarifying as how many farms in the said panchayat are being violated the said Environmental guidelines and in what zone it is been constructed, and file a report in 2 weeks and also directed the TPCB to file the status report regarding the same.
