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Panchayat Qureshian and Another vs State of Rajasthan and Others

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 841Decided 13 Sept 2023
Civil Appeal Nos. 1538-1539 of 2008
Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · Manoj Misra

Background

A slaughter house near National Highway 12 in Tonk, Rajasthan was ordered closed by the Permanent Lok Adalat in 2003 after a complaint that it was polluting the area in violation of rules. The appellants challenged this closure order first before the Rajasthan High Court (unsuccessfully) and then before the Supreme Court, mainly arguing that the Permanent Lok Adalat had no jurisdiction to order such a closure. While the appeal was pending, the State Pollution Control Board separately inspected the slaughter house multiple times over several years, found it was discharging untreated effluent in breach of prescribed pollution limits, and ultimately ordered its closure under its own statutory powers in 2008; a connected writ petition sought further directions on water supply and stopping illegal street slaughter in Tonk.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the original jurisdictional question about the Lok Adalat's power had been overtaken by events, because the slaughter house's actual closure in 2008 was not carried out under the Lok Adalat's order but independently under the Pollution Control Board's statutory authority under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, after repeated inspections confirmed ongoing violations. Since the closure rested on a lawful, properly exercised statutory power rather than the disputed Lok Adalat order, the Court found no relief was warranted on the appeals or the writ petition, and dismissed both.

Lesson Learnt

When a regulator later takes valid, independent statutory action to reach the same outcome as a disputed earlier order, courts will look at the actual operative basis for the outcome rather than revive an old jurisdictional dispute that no longer affects the result, and polluting industrial units cannot escape closure merely by challenging the forum that first flagged the violation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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