Tribunal to recover damages from Coca-Cola in Kerala
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COMMENTS 
The Kerala government has decided to set up a tribunal to assess and realise compensation from Coca-Cola for the damage caused by its bottling plant at Plachimada, in Palakkad district
The Kerala State Cabinet, on June 30, 2010, decided to set up a tribunal for realising compensation from the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Company for the ecological damage caused at Plachimada in Palakkad district.
Announcing the decision, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said that Cabinet had approved a report submitted by Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar that estimated damages to the tune of Rs 216.26 crore due to the Coke bottling unit, defunct since 2004. The law ministry has been asked to take necessary steps to form the tribunal.
Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem opposed the formation of a tribunal on grounds that such a step would set a bad precedent in the industrial sector. Principal Secretary, Industries, T Balakrishnan, in the department’s reply to the government panel’s recommendations, suggested that the Coke plant should be allowed to resume operation or that it should be relocated to an area where an industrial water supply scheme could be introduced.
This had no effect on the Cabinet meet which was of the opinion that the bottling plant had indeed caused severe damage to human beings and agriculture in the area.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has stuck to its stand that the very constitution of an expert panel was based on “pre-determined and unproven conclusions” that the plant had caused losses to people in the area.
In its reaction to the Cabinet decision, the company said in a statement that numerous scientific studies and investigations by independent experts and the Kerala government itself had shown that the plant was not the cause of local watershed issues.
Source: The Indian Express, July 1, 2010
Press Trust of India, July 1, 2010