The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on water supply from Thamirabarani river in Tirunelveli district to the co-packers of cola companies.
When a couple of public interest litigations (PILs) came up for hearing at the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, Justices A Selvam and P Kalaiyarasan questioned the petitioners as to why a similar case was not filed against other companies that were drawing water from the same river.
The court’s decision came a day after many traders in Tamil Nadu decided to stop selling Pepsi and Coca Cola from March 1. The petitioners argued that the two companies were drawing water from the river, which in turn was affecting farming. In their counter affidavit, the co-packers of PepsiCo rejected the charges that they did not exploit the water from the Thamirabarani river.
The state government also said only surplus river water was supplied to the companies. However, after a detailed hearing, the court vacated the interim orders and dismissed the writ petitions, holding that there was no environmental impact on account of PepsiCo fetching water from the river.
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