The Madras High Court allows Pepsi and Coke to draw water from Tamirabarani river

A day after traders in Tamil Nadu began enforcing a boycott of Coke and Pepsi, the two cola majors won a major water war in a legal battle on Thursday.

The Madras High Court lifted a ban on Tamirabarani river water to the two cola plants located at Gangaikondan village in Tirunelveli district where SIPCOT had set up an industrial growth centre.

The court’s two member Madurai bench comprising Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan dismissed PILs seeking permanent ban on use of water by the two cola majors and also vacated an interim injunction granted by the court in November last year.

The Madras High Court had initially stopped PepsiCo from drawing water from the river in November, 2016. However, on Thursday, the High Court has vacated the interim orders and dismissed the writ petitions, holding that there is no environmental impact on account of drawal of water.

A PIL seeking ban on water to the cola majors was filed by Tirunelveli District Consumer Protection Association secretary and former MLA DA Prabhkar. The petitioner said as the two companies gobbled up huge quantities of water, estimated at 30 lakh literes per day, the companies be barred from exploiting the natural resources.

The judges had during a previous hearing, questioned why the petitioners left out other soft drink manufacturers of the region and instead filed case against the two companies.

The exploitation of natural resources is one of the major arguments put forward by the domestic soft drink makers and traders who had begun a boycott of the two cola majors in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.