Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has moved to the Madras High Court with a plea to quash a 1998 Government Order (G.O.) through which not only the 73.06 acre Vedanthangal Lake but also all places within the 5km radius around it were declared a bird sanctuary.
Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu on Monday ordered notice, returnable by October 10, to the State government on the pharma company’s contention that those places could be declared only as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) and not as a sanctuary.
In its affidavit, the company said that in 1992-93, a company named Pradeep Exports Limited was established as a pharmaceutical industrial unit at Sathammai village near Vedanthangal. About five years later, the State government, by way of the G.O. issued on July 3, 1998, declared the Vedanthangal Lake to be a bird sanctuary.
