Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, June 12: Jammu and Kashmir High Court today pulled up the Pollution Control Board (PCB) for submitting unsatisfactory status report on sealing of hotels that violate pollution norms.
The court directed the PCB to file a fresh status tomorrow to reflect the hotels violating pollution laws on sewage treatment plants (STPs), septic tanks and soakage pits have been sealed.
The court also allowed the hoteliers of Jammu and Katra to operate 19 rooms of their hotels till they install STPs.
A Division Bench of the court comprising Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice MH Attar after examining the status report filed by PCB observed: “Again vague expression has been used that the commercial operation of the various hotels have been suspended and the status report is far from satisfactory”.
The bench directed Secretary of the PCB to file a fresh status report by tomorrow. The court rapped the PCB authorities for not implementing the orders of the court in “letter and spirit”.
“If anybody is trying to be over smart, then we will deal with him in our own language. Your officers are indulging in some extracurricular activities. Last time we have made it clear that suspending of commercial operation would mean sealing also; this would be the effective way of implementing the order and law, we are not going to stop the way you like,” the court told Advocate General of the state M I Qadri.
The court pulled up the PCB authorities for taking their lenient view towards those hoteliers who are operating their hotels without STPs.”You are hand in glove with the hotelier people. Who are you, what is your name, what type of Regional Director are you? You are changing the stance as you are misleading the court by saying that sealing has been done,” the court told Regional Manager of PCB who was present in the court.
The court in its last direction has said that those hotels should be sealed and only suspension will not suffice.
The court further observed that we have clarified that such an order (suspension order) is only on paper and in reality such hotels keep on operation, therefore in order to effectively implement the suspension of commercial operation the sealing process was ordered to be undertaken.
Meantime, some hoteliers from Jammu and Katra through their advocates Anil Sethi and RK Bhardwaj came up with the applications for review of court order to the extent that they be allowed to operate the 19 rooms of their hotels till STPs are installed.
The bench allowed them to operate 19 rooms of their hotels, but with a rider to file undertaking before the court that they will not use more than 19 rooms and also after obtaining consent in this regard from PCB.
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