more-inThe Supreme Court on Thursday recorded a submission by Coca-Cola that it has no intention to open and resume operations in its controversial Plachimada factory in Kerala, thus drawing to a close the 12-year-long litigation fought tooth and nail between the people of Perumatty panchayat and the multinational soft drink major. Vishwanathan, appearing for Coca-Cola, that the litigation should be declared infructuous as his client does not intend to return to the Plachimada premises in future to start operations. The application sought to stay the Kerala High Court decision of April 7 and June 1 of 2005. The High Court held in Coca-Cola’s favour, permitting its bottling plant at Plachimada to draw groundwater not exceeding 5,00,000 litres a day. The question of law in the case whether local self-governing bodies such as panchayats should be empowered with licensing powers and decide the future of industry continues to remain open in the Supreme Court.

Source: The Hindu July 13, 2017 18:00 UTC