The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has taken to legal recourse against tanneries operating from the Leather Complex here. Sources said the PPCB had filed a criminal case against the Punjab Effluent Treatment Society (PETS), its directors, secretary and two others in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The matter is to come up for hearing on August 12. The sources said that the PPCB had taken this step after being reprimanded by the Union Government over the issue. The PETS manages the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) installed at the Leather Complex. Its chief executive officer (CEO) is Steven Kler, who is brother of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Avinash Chander. In the recent past, the PPCB authorities have found tanneries discharging untreated waste into the Kala Sanghian drain. In its petition, the PPCB has accused the tanneries of illegal discharge of effluents into the Kala Sanghian drain. It has filed the case under Sections 43, 44 and 47 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,1974, and directions issued under Section 33-A of the Act. While an offence under Section 43 and 44 is punishable with imprisonment up to six years, section 33-A empowers the court to grant injunction or to restrain the industry from operating. Ravinder Singh, PPCB chairman, said they had been trying for years to bring down the industrial pollution caused by units located in the Leather Complex, but to no avail. “We sealed almost 50 per cent of the tanneries last year. But they kept operating on the sly, choking the stormwater sewers with effluents. We had no choice but to take legal action against them,” he said. When contacted, Steven Kler, expressed ignorance on the matter. “The CETP installed at the Leather Complex is adhering to 95 per cent of the parameters laid down by the PPCB,” he claimed. He said steps were being taken to bring down pollution by the the tanneries. “Soon, we will be commissioning a new CETP for which a scientist from the Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, will visit the Leather Complex next week. We plan to run an old module CETP (1.5 million litres per day) already installed at the complex on an operational and maintenance basis,” Kler added.