Bombay High Court junks MPCB’s closure order on NCP MLA Rohit Pawar’s factory

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday set aside the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s order directing the closure of a factory controlled by Nationalist Congress Party MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of NCP President Sharad Pawar.

A division bench of Justice Nitin Inamdar and Justice Manjusha Deshpande has asked the MPCB to reconsider its September 27 notice to Baramati Agro Ltd., a sugar factory run by Rohit Pawar, on various grounds.

Vide the order served in the night of September 27-28, the MPCB asked the factory to shut down its manufacturing facility for the distillery unit within 72 hours, which Rohit Pawar challenged in the high court, contending that it was issued to build political pressures on him as he belonged to the Sharad Pawar group.

On September 29, the high court ordered the MPCB not to execute its directives till the next hearing of the matter.

In the plea filed through lawyer Akshay Shinde, the Baramati Agro Ltd., which started operations in 2007-2008, said it was granted environmental clearance in 2022, However, during a recent inspection, the MPCB detected some alleged irregularities and ordered closure of the 15-year old factory, which the factory challenged.