The Gujarat High Court, has in a landmark judgment, directed the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to immediately notify the district judge and the collector of any industrial unit found polluting the environment.

The district judge will give a verdict on the compensation to be paid to the affected people on the basis of the report of a committee of experts to be appointed by him, and after hearing the polluting unit.

The move is aimed at expeditious dispensation of compensation to people affected by industrial pollution.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice Akil Kureshi pronounced the judgment while acting on a petition filed by one Solanki Jaswant, a farmer of Sabarkantha district.

The petitioner had demanded directions to authorities to check and curb the groundwater contamination in his village by industrial units, and to take steps against the same.

While passing the order on the petition, the Bench considered the issue of assessing the pollution caused by any industrial unit. It decided on the compensation to be paid to the affected parties and to expeditiously dispense the same to the parties at length. It also ordered an official mechanism to be set up for the same.

“We have come across several such cases where industrial and chemical factories simply get away after polluting the bore-wells and water courses on a massive scale, thereby causing serious health hazards and pollution. There is no system or mechanism to meet with such situations and to determine the extent of pollution caused and to determine the damage caused,” the Bench observed.

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