Madras HC orders restoration of power supply to Madura Coats unit

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The Madras High Court has granted an interim stay on disconnection of power supply to a unit of Madura Coats, a garment manufacturing firm, and directed the electricity department to restore it. The petition by Madura Coats was heard by a division bench, comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice M Govindarajan, in a special late sitting yesterday.

The bench directed the electricity department to restore the power supply to the firm's unit in Ambasamudram town of Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district.

Madura Coats had approached the court challenging the disconnection of power supply to its unit on June 28.

The garment manufacturer said in its petition that it was served a show cause notice by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) giving the company only three days time to explain why its power supply should not be cut and submitted that sufficient time was not given.

A period of 15 days should be given to act on the show cause notice, Madura Coats said in its submission.

The government counsel submitted that the government had the power under Section 5 of the Environmental Protection Act to order closure of the unit even without issuing a notice.

He further submitted the unit had not cleared over 700 metric tonnes of sludge despite several warnings issued by the pollution control board.

The division bench has posted the matter for hearing on July 30.