The recent high court verdict allowing Coke to apply for a licence despite Pollution Control Board's (PCB) closure order and directing the panchayat to grant licence is likely to deepen the crisis of reopening the company's Plachimada factory. Perumatty panchayat and the PCB are considering legal recourse, may move the Supreme Court (SC). This is despite the Kerala High Court dismissing the Coca Cola's clarification petition on the period of the licence stating that it should not land the company in deeper waters. The coke plant has not been operating for more than a year.