The Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, asked the Punjab government as to why no action was taken against the DTO Kuldeep Singh. The DTO, who was present in court, submitted that he had already received a showcause notice for dereliction of duty from the Punjab Pollution Control Board to which had replied in July 2008. However, no further action was taken in the case.

According to the petition, the rice sheller was set up in violation of the norms.

“As per the guidelines, a factory can come up at a distance of 500 metres from a scheduled road but in this case, the distance is barely 60 metres,” reads the petition.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had conducted an inspection of the site on July 23 and issued a showcause notice asking why the consent should not be withdrawn.

“I had issued the certificate on the basis of a report by a Junior Engineer and after personal verification of the distance, I realised that the certificate issued was erroneous and cancelled it,” said Singh in his reply.

The relaxation, the Bench observed, appeared to have been granted entirely on the grounds that the company had made a substantial investment based on the erroneous certificate issued by the DTO.

The Bench also directed the counsel for the Punjab government to file a supplementary affidavit with regard to various issues in the case as well.