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Cuttack, June 8: The Orissa High Court Wednesday asked the owners of at least 50 hotels to deposit 30 percent of the penalty slapped on them by Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) within 10 days.
The court ruled that the hotel owners will present their views with the OSPCB and asked the board to reconsider its order within three weeks. The pollution watchdog was asked not to take any action against the hotel owners within this period. A vacation bench of Justice Biswanath Rath has issued the direction.
According to the petition, the National Green Tribunal had asked the pollution board to take action against those hotel owners who had been discharging untreated waste water into rivers. As per the NGT order, the OSPCB had imposed Rs 6 lakh penalty on the hotels with more than 20 beds and functioning without valid licence till August 6, 2015. The hotels with more than 20 beds who had not renewed their licences within the period were slapped Rs 5 lakh fine.
Similarly, the board had imposed Rs 4 lakh fine on those hotels with less than 20 beds functioning without valid permission while Rs 3 lakh on those whose licences were not renewed. Besides, the restaurants or eateries with lodging facilities running without licences were slapped Rs 2 lakh fine while 1 lakh fine was imposed for not renewing licences. However, about 50 hoteliers had challenged the order of the OSPCB in the HC.
