M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Kanpur Tanneries Case)

Facts

• Numerous tanneries in Kanpur were discharging untreated or inadequately treated effluent directly into the Ganga river
• This discharge substantially contributed to the river's severe pollution
• The Supreme Court, within the broader Ganga Pollution litigation, addressed this specific category of industrial polluter

Issue

1. What remedy is appropriate for tanneries discharging untreated effluent into a major river, given the severity and ongoing character of the resulting pollution.

Held

• The Court ordered the tanneries to install adequate effluent treatment plants within a specified timeframe
• Tanneries failing to comply within this timeframe would face closure
• Closure, rather than merely escalating fines, was considered necessary given the severity of the pollution and the risk that fines alone might simply be absorbed as an operating cost by a sufficiently profitable but non-compliant tannery

Ratio Decidendi

Where financial penalties alone risk being treated as an absorbable cost by an otherwise profitable but non-compliant polluter, courts may order closure as the specific consequence for continued non-compliance with directions to install required pollution control measures, particularly where the underlying pollution is severe and ongoing.