Contempt charge against Salem DCP
Saturday September 10 2005
New Indian Express
CHENNAI: The members of the Corporate Accountability Desk (CAD), an NGO, will file a contempt of court petition against Salem (Urban) Deputy Commissioner of Police along with a petition seeking permission for an Environmental Awareness Walk from Mettur to Cuddalore, in Madras High Court.
Addressing media men here, Nithyanand Jayaraman, a member of CAD, said the DCP Salem had misquoted the Madras High Court Judgment on a petition filed by a member of CAD, in order to prevent them from taking out the walk, which was actually scheduled to be held on September 3.
“The DCP, in a letter to the members of various organisations that organised the walk quoted the judgment completely wrong.
He did not even bother to go through the judgment, which gave us permission to conduct the walk as per the permission granted to us by the said DCP.
He, in his letter, said that the High Court had observed our walk as anti-labour and disposed the petition. But the court did not say that and moreover, in an interim order, gave us permission to conduct the walk from Salem to Ayodhyapattinam, which was also earlier agreed upon by the Salem DCP himself,” Nithyanand said. Shwetha Narayan, member of CAD, earlier filed a petition against the order of Mettur SP, which prevented them from conducting the walk from Mettur to Salem.
Considering this petition, Madras High Court Justice D Murugesan refused to ban the order of the SP, instead allowed the petitioner to conduct the walk as per the directions given to them by the Salem DCP.
When they were about to start the walk from Salem on September 3, another letter from the Salem DCP banned the walk, citing the September order of the High Court.
The members of CAD along with West Konur Farmers Association, Mettur, Socio-Economic Environment Development Trust, Salem, Tamil Nadu Green Movement, Ooty, and FEDCOT, Cuddalore, would file fresh petitions to get permission for their walk, which is planned to be organised on September 22.
The walk, that is mainly organised to prevent the setting up of Chemplast Sanmars PVC plant at Cuddalore SIPCOT, would also address the environmental issues pertaining to areas like Athur and Vridhachalam.
According to the protesters, Chemplast Sanmar had been denied permission to set up the factory, first by people of Tamil Nadu and then by people of Andhra Pradesh.