The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974: Complete Note on Boards, Consent, Enforcement, the 2024 Amendment and Water Pollution in Practice

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 was India's first comprehensive pollution control law. It created the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, which remain the backbone of pollution regulation, and introduced the consent regime under which no industry, operation or treatment system may discharge sewage or trade effluent without the Board's prior permission. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024 decriminalised most contraventions, introduced adjudicated monetary penalties, and gave the Central Government power to exempt categories of industries from consent and to issue binding guidelines. This note covers the Act section by section and then applies it to the main sources of water pollution: industry, sewage, rivers and groundwater.

1. Object and Scope of the Water Act

The long title states the Act's purpose: to provide for the prevention and control of water pollution and the maintaining or restoring of wholesomeness of water, for the establishment of Boards for these purposes, and for conferring on and assigning to such Boards powers and functions relating thereto. Two points follow. The Act aims not only to prevent pollution but to restore water to a wholesome state. And it is built around institutions, the Boards, rather than around rules alone.

1.1 The Water Act and Article 252 of the Constitution

Water is a State subject (Entry 17, List II), so Parliament had no power under Article 246 to enact a national water pollution law. The Legislatures of several States therefore passed resolutions under Article 252(1) requesting Parliament to legislate. The Act, passed in March 1974, applied at first to those States and the Union territories, and was later adopted by resolution in the remaining States. Two consequences follow from Article 252(2): the Act can be amended or repealed only by Parliament, and an amending Act applies only in the States that adopt the amendment by resolution.

A companion statute, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, levied a cess on water consumed by specified industries and local authorities to fund the Boards. It was repealed in 2017 on the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.

2. Key Definitions: Section 2

2.1 Meaning of water pollution

The definition has three limbs of conduct (contamination, alteration of properties, discharge) and a list of harmful effects (nuisance, harm to public health or safety, to legitimate uses, or to animals, plants and aquatic life). The words 'may, or is likely to' make it anticipatory: actual harm need not be proved. 'Directly or indirectly' covers discharge that reaches water through land or a drain.

2.2 Meaning of stream

The definition is far wider than the ordinary meaning of the word. It includes a dry watercourse, artificial inland waters such as reservoirs and canals, groundwater ('sub-terranean waters'), and the sea to the extent notified. The inclusion of groundwater is especially important, because it brings contamination of aquifers by industrial effluent within the Act.

2.3 Meaning of sewage effluent

Sewage effluent (Section 2(g)) means effluent from any sewerage system or sewage disposal works, and includes sullage from open drains. The inclusion of sullage from open drains brings municipal drains, which carry most of India's untreated sewage, within the Act. A sewer (Section 2(gg)) means any conduit pipe or channel, open or closed, carrying sewage or trade effluent, and an outlet (Section 2(dd)) includes any conduit pipe or channel, open or closed, carrying sewage or trade effluent, or any other holding arrangement which causes or is likely to cause pollution.

2.4 Meaning of trade effluent

Trade effluent is defined by its source (premises used for industry, operation or process, or a treatment and disposal system), not its composition, and may be liquid, gaseous or solid. Only domestic sewage is excluded. Discharge from a common effluent treatment plant is therefore trade effluent.

3. The Pollution Control Boards

3.1 Constitution of the Boards

Section 3 provides for the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and Section 4 for a State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) in each State. (They were originally named the Central and State Boards for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, and were renamed in 1988.) Each Board consists of a full-time Chairman with special knowledge or practical experience in environmental protection or administrative experience; not more than five government officials; members drawn from local authorities (for State Boards) or from the State Boards (for the Central Board); not more than three non-officials representing interests such as agriculture, fishery, industry or trade; two persons representing government-owned companies or corporations; and a full-time Member-Secretary with qualifications and experience in pollution control. Members ordinarily hold office for three years (Section 5), and the Board must meet at least once in every three months (Section 8). The 2024 amendment provides that the Chairman of a State Board is to be nominated in the manner prescribed by the Central Government, which also prescribes the terms of service.

In Techi Tagi Tara v. Rajendra Singh Bhandari, (2018) 11 SCC 734, the Supreme Court noted that many State Boards were headed by persons without relevant expertise and directed that rules on qualifications and appointments be framed, observing that the Boards could not function effectively otherwise.

3.2 Functions of the CPCB: Section 16

The main function of the Central Board is to promote cleanliness of streams and wells in different areas of the States. Its other functions include: advising the Central Government on prevention and control of water pollution; co-ordinating the activities of State Boards and resolving disputes among them; providing technical assistance and guidance to State Boards and sponsoring research; planning and organising training; organising a comprehensive mass media programme; collecting, compiling and publishing technical and statistical data; preparing manuals, codes and guides for treatment and disposal of sewage and trade effluents; laying down, modifying or annulling standards for a stream or well in consultation with State Governments; planning and executing a nation-wide programme; and establishing or recognising laboratories. For the Union territories, the Central Board exercises the powers of a State Board, and it may delegate them to a Pollution Control Committee (as for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee).

3.3 Functions of the SPCBs: Section 17

The State Board is the principal regulator on the ground. Its functions include: planning a comprehensive programme for the prevention, control or abatement of pollution of streams and wells in the State; advising the State Government; collecting and disseminating information; encouraging research; inspecting sewage and trade effluent treatment plants and reviewing plans and specifications for such plants; laying down, modifying or annulling effluent standards for sewage and trade effluents and for the quality of receiving waters; evolving economical and reliable methods of treatment; evolving methods of utilising sewage and trade effluent in agriculture; laying down standards of treatment of effluents to be discharged into particular streams, taking into account minimum fair weather dilution; making, varying or revoking orders for the prevention of discharge of waste into streams or wells; establishing or recognising laboratories; and advising the State Government on the location of industries likely to pollute a stream or well.

3.4 Directions to the Boards: Section 18

In performing their functions, the Central Board is bound by directions of the Central Government, and a State Board by directions of the Central Board or the State Government. Where a direction of the State Government is inconsistent with that of the Central Board, the matter is referred to the Central Government, whose decision is final. In an emergency, the Central Government may direct the Central Board to perform the functions of a State Board.

3.5 Joint Boards: Section 13

Two or more contiguous States, or the Central Government and one or more contiguous Union territories and States, may enter into an agreement to constitute a Joint Board for all the participating States. The agreement provides for apportionment of expenditure, the powers to be exercised, and consultation between the participating governments. Joint Boards are a response to the fact that rivers cross State boundaries, though in practice they have rarely been used.

4. Prevention and Control of Water Pollution: Powers of the Boards

4.1 Power of State Government to restrict the Act to certain areas: Section 19

The State Government may, after consulting the State Board, restrict the application of the Act to such area as may be specified, where it considers that the provisions need not apply to the entire State.

4.2 Power to obtain information: Section 20

The State Board may make surveys of any area and gauge and keep records of the flow or volume of any stream or well, and may give directions requiring any person in charge of an establishment where any industry, operation or process or treatment and disposal system is carried on to furnish information about the construction, installation or operation of the establishment or of any disposal system, and about the abstraction of water and the discharge of effluent. Failure to comply now attracts a penalty under Section 41.

4.3 Power to take samples: Sections 21 and 22

A State Board or an officer empowered by it may take samples of water from any stream or well, or of any sewage or trade effluent passing from any plant or vessel or through any place into a stream or well, for analysis. The result of analysis is admissible in legal proceedings only if the prescribed procedure is followed. In outline: the officer serves notice on the occupier or his agent of his intention to have the sample analysed; the sample is collected in the occupier's presence; it is divided into two parts, each placed in a container, marked and sealed, and signed by both; and the parts are then dealt with as the section prescribes, one being sent without delay for analysis to the laboratory established or recognised by the Board. Section 22 governs the reports and the cost of analysis. If the occupier wilfully absents himself or refuses to sign, the sample is sealed by the officer alone. Courts have treated compliance with this procedure as essential to the admissibility of the analysis.

4.4 Entry and inspection: Section 23

Any person empowered by the State Board may, at all reasonable times and with such assistance as he considers necessary, enter any place for performing the Board's functions, for determining whether the Act, rules, orders, notices, directions or consents are being complied with, for examining any plant, record, register, document or material object, and for conducting a search where he has reason to believe an offence has been committed, with power to seize evidence. Obstruction attracts a penalty under Section 42 or the residuary Section 45A.

4.5 State Water Laboratory and Central Water Laboratory: Sections 51 to 54

The Central Government may establish or specify a Central Water Laboratory (Section 51), and the State Government a State Water Laboratory (Section 52), to carry out the functions entrusted to them, including the analysis of samples sent by the Boards. Governments appoint or recognise qualified Government analysts (Section 53), and a report signed by a Government analyst may be used as evidence of the facts stated in it in any proceeding under the Act (Section 54).

5. The Core Prohibition: Section 24

Section 24 is the central prohibition of the Act. Clause (a) prohibits the entry of polluting matter, judged by the Board's standards, into any stream, well, sewer or on land. Clause (b) prohibits matter that impedes the flow of a stream so as to aggravate pollution, such as solid waste or debris dumped in a river bed. The word 'knowingly' imports a mental element: the person must know that he is causing or permitting the entry.

Section 24(2) lists exceptions: a person is not guilty merely because of constructing, improving or maintaining a building, bridge, weir, dam, sluice, dock, pier, drain, sewer or other permanent works which he has a right to construct or maintain; depositing materials on the bank or bed of a stream for reclaiming land or for supporting, repairing or protecting the bed or bank; or, with the consent of the State Board, putting into a stream sand or gravel or other natural deposit which has flowed from or been deposited by the current. Section 24(3) allows the State Government, after consulting the Board, to exempt a person from Section 24(1)(b) by notification.

Contravention of Section 24 now attracts a penalty under Section 43: not less than ten thousand rupees and up to fifteen lakh rupees, with an additional ten thousand rupees for every day the contravention continues. Before the 2024 amendment it was punishable with imprisonment of one and a half to six years and fine.

6. The Consent Regime: Sections 25 to 28

6.1 Restrictions on new outlets and new discharges: Section 25

6.2 Consent to establish and consent to operate

The Act itself speaks only of 'consent', but in practice Section 25 operates in two stages. Consent to Establish (CTE) is required under clause (a) before a person takes any steps to set up an industry or treatment system, and allows the Board to examine the site, the process and the proposed treatment arrangements before investment is made. Consent to Operate (CTO) is required under clauses (b) and (c) before the unit brings its outlets into use or begins discharging, and allows the Board to verify that the promised treatment facilities have actually been installed. CTO is granted for a period and must be renewed. The same two-stage structure applies under the Air Act.

Industries are classified by the CPCB into Red, Orange, Green and White categories according to their pollution potential, and the category determines the scrutiny, validity period and frequency of inspection. Exercising the new proviso, the Central Government in November 2024 notified that White category (practically non-polluting) industries need neither CTE nor CTO, and that industries which have obtained environmental clearance under the EIA Notification need not obtain a separate CTE, the concerns of the State Board being addressed during the clearance process.

6.3 Application for consent: Section 25(2) and (3)

An application for consent is made to the State Board in the prescribed form, with the prescribed fee. The Board may make such inquiry as it thinks fit, following the prescribed procedure, including inspection of the site. Most States now receive applications through online single-window systems.

6.4 Conditions of consent: Section 25(4)

The Board may grant consent subject to such conditions as it may impose, or refuse it for reasons to be recorded in writing. Typical conditions relate to: the point of discharge; the nature and composition, temperature and volume of the effluent; the installation, operation and maintenance of treatment plants and monitoring devices; the provision of sampling points; and the submission of periodic reports. The Board keeps a register of consents, open to inspection by interested persons. Where a person has established a unit or begun discharge without consent, the Board may serve notice imposing conditions as if consent had been applied for.

6.5 Existing discharges: Section 26

Section 26 extended the consent requirement to discharges that were already being made when the Act came into force, requiring the person concerned to apply for consent within the prescribed period.

6.6 Refusal or withdrawal of consent: Section 27

A State Board shall not grant consent for the establishment of any industry, operation or process, or treatment and disposal system, or for a new outlet or discharge, unless the industry or system is so established as to comply with the conditions imposed. The Board may, from time to time, review any condition and, by notice in writing, vary or revoke it, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard. Revocation of consent is the basis on which Boards refuse renewal and move towards closure.

6.7 Central Government guidelines concerning consent: Section 27A

The 2024 amendment inserted Section 27A, empowering the Central Government, by notification, to issue guidelines on matters relating to the grant, refusal or cancellation of consent by State Boards, including a mechanism for the time-bound disposal of consent applications. State Boards must act in accordance with them. Uniform consent guidelines have been issued for the Water and Air Acts and were amended in January 2026, among other things to allow States to fix a single consent to operate fee for periods ranging from five to twenty-five years and to ease procedures for micro and small enterprises in industrial areas.

6.8 Exemption of certain categories from consent requirements

Before 2024, the consent requirement applied to every industry likely to discharge effluent, however small; exemptions for 'white' industries rested only on administrative classification. The proviso to Section 25(1) now gives the Central Government a statutory power to exempt categories of industrial plants, in consultation with the CPCB. Supporters see this as removing needless compliance for non-polluting units; critics worry that exemptions may be extended to units that do pollute and that States lose control over industries within their territory.

7. Emergency Measures, Court Orders and Directions

7.1 Emergency measures: Section 32

Where it appears to the State Board that any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter is present in any stream or well, or has entered it, because of an accident or other unforeseen act or event, the Board may, if it considers it necessary or expedient to act forthwith, carry out such operations as it considers necessary to remove the matter, remedy or mitigate any injury caused, and issue orders immediately restraining or prohibiting the person concerned from discharging any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter. Section 31 requires the occupier to inform the Board of any such accident without delay.

7.2 Application to court to restrain water pollution: Section 33

Where the Board apprehends that the water in any stream or well is likely to be polluted by reason of the disposal or likely disposal of any matter, it may apply to a court, not inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, for restraining the person likely to cause the pollution. The court may make such order as it deems fit, and may direct the person to desist, or, where matter has already been placed, direct its removal; if the person fails, the Board may itself remove the matter and recover the cost. The provision is preventive: it acts on apprehension, not only on pollution already caused.

7.3 Power to issue directions: Section 33A

7.4 Closure of polluting industry

Section 33A allows the Board itself, without going to court, to direct closure of a polluting unit and the disconnection of its electricity and water. It is the Board's most effective tool, used against units operating without consent, units whose consent has been revoked, and units that persistently exceed standards. Directions must be preceded by a fair opportunity of being heard, except in an emergency, and must be proportionate. The closure of the Sterlite copper smelter at Thoothukudi began with the refusal to renew consent and a closure direction, and the Supreme Court declined to interfere in Vedanta Ltd. v. State of Tamil Nadu (2024). Non-compliance with a Section 33A direction now attracts a penalty under Section 41A.

7.5 Other enforcement powers

Under Section 30, where a person fails to execute works required by a consent condition, the Board may carry out the works itself and recover the cost. Under Section 19 the State Government may confine the Act to specified areas, and under Section 61 and 62 the Central and State Governments may supersede a Board that persistently fails to perform its functions.

8. Appeals under the Water Act

The Act provides a two-tier structure of appeals, overlaid since 2010 by the National Green Tribunal:

1. Appeal to the Appellate Authority (Section 28). A person aggrieved by an order of the State Board under Section 25, 26 or 27 (grant, refusal, conditions, variation or revocation of consent) may appeal within thirty days to an appellate authority constituted by the State Government, consisting of one person or three persons.
2. Revision by the State Government (Section 29). The State Government may call for and examine the record of any case disposed of by the Board and pass such order as it thinks fit, after giving the person concerned an opportunity of being heard.
3. Appeal to the National Green Tribunal (Section 33B). Inserted by the NGT Act, 2010, it allows a person aggrieved by an order of the appellate authority under Section 28, an order of the State Government under Section 29, or directions issued by a Board under Section 33A, to appeal to the NGT.
4. Appeal against penalties (Section 45C). Inserted in 2024, it provides an appeal to the NGT against an order of the adjudicating officer, within sixty days, on deposit of ten per cent of the penalty.

9. Offences and Penalties

9.1 The position before 2024

As originally enacted, the Act created criminal offences. Failure to comply with Section 20 directions was punishable with imprisonment up to three months or fine up to ten thousand rupees; contravention of Section 24 or Sections 25 and 26, and failure to comply with orders under Sections 32 and 33 or directions under Section 33A, was punishable with imprisonment of not less than one and a half years, extendable to six years, and fine; continuing contravention attracted a daily fine; and repeat offences after conviction attracted imprisonment of two to seven years (Section 45). The residuary Section 45A provided for imprisonment up to three months or fine up to ten thousand rupees. Section 47 made companies, and Section 48 Government departments, liable for offences. These provisions continue to apply in States that have not adopted the 2024 amendment.

9.2 The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024

The Amendment Act was passed by Parliament in February 2024 and came into force on 15 February 2024 in the States and Union territories to which it applies. Its principal changes are:

1. Decriminalisation of most contraventions, which now attract monetary penalties.
2. Adjudication of penalties by an officer appointed by the Central Government (Section 45B).
3. Appeal to the NGT against penalty orders (Section 45C).
4. Crediting of penalties to the Environment Protection Fund under the EPA (Section 45D).
5. Retention of imprisonment for failure to comply with the consent provisions (Sections 25 and 26) and for failure to pay a penalty (Section 45E).
6. Power to exempt categories of industrial plants from consent (proviso to Section 25(1)).
7. Power to issue guidelines on consent (Section 27A).
8. Nomination of the Chairman of a State Board in the manner prescribed by the Central Government (Section 4).
9. A penalty for tampering with monitoring devices.
10. Penalty for Government departments equal to one month's basic salary (substituted Section 48).

9.3 Decriminalisation of minor Water Act offences

Two points need care. First, the amendment treats the consent provisions differently from the rest of the Act: a monetary penalty is provided in Section 44, but imprisonment is retained in Section 45E for failure to comply with Sections 25 and 26, reflecting the view that operating without consent is the gravest breach of the regulatory scheme. How the two provisions interact in a given case is a question the courts have yet to settle fully. Second, where the original Act prescribed additional daily fines, several substituted provisions prescribe additional daily penalties; consult the amended text for each section.

9.4 Adjudication of monetary penalties: Sections 45B to 45D

The Central Government appoints an adjudicating officer, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India or Secretary to the State Government, to hold an inquiry and impose penalties in the prescribed manner, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard. Rules made in 2024 prescribe the procedure for inquiry and the factors relevant to the quantum of penalty. An appeal lies to the NGT within sixty days, on deposit of ten per cent of the penalty (Section 45C). Penalties are credited to the Environment Protection Fund established under Section 16 of the EPA (Section 45D).

9.5 Liability of companies and cognizance

Section 47 (offences by companies) was omitted in 2024; the liability of directors, managers and officers for the offences that remain is now provided in Section 45E, where the offence was committed with their consent or connivance or is attributable to their neglect. Under Section 49, no court shall take cognizance of an offence except on a complaint by the Board or an officer authorised by it, by the adjudicating officer or an officer authorised by him (clause (aa), inserted in 2024), or by any person who has given sixty days' notice of the alleged offence and of his intention to complain. The Board must, on demand, make available to such a person the relevant reports in its possession, unless it considers disclosure against the public interest.

9.6 Other provisions

Section 58 bars civil courts from entertaining suits in respect of matters that the appellate authority is empowered to determine under the Act, and from granting injunctions in respect of action taken under it. Section 60 gives the Act overriding effect over inconsistent enactments. Sections 63 and 64 confer rule-making powers on the Central and State Governments.

10. The Water Act and the Environment (Protection) Act

The two Acts are complementary. The Water Act supplies the institutional machinery and the consent regime; the EPA supplies uniform national standards (for example, the effluent standards in the Schedules to the Environment (Protection) Rules), a general direction power and an umbrella for matters the Water Act does not reach. Powers under the EPA have been delegated to the Boards, which therefore enforce both Acts.

11. Water Pollution in Practice

11.1 Water pollution and industrial effluent; water pollution by industries

Industries such as tanneries, textile dyeing, distilleries, pulp and paper, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, sugar and thermal power discharge trade effluent containing organic load, dyes, heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The legal controls are the consent conditions, the industry-specific and general discharge standards, monitoring through online continuous effluent monitoring systems, and closure under Section 33A. The courts have consistently refused to accept economic hardship as a defence.

11.2 CETPs and water pollution

Small and medium units, especially in clusters of tanneries, dyeing units and electroplating shops, often cannot afford individual treatment plants. Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) treat the combined effluent of a cluster, with each member unit bearing a share of the cost; the CETP is itself a 'treatment and disposal system' requiring consent, and its discharge is trade effluent. CETPs have frequently failed for want of capacity, maintenance or finance. In Tirupur Dyeing Factory Owners Association v. Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, (2009) 9 SCC 737, concerning the pollution of the Noyyal river by dyeing units, the Court applied the polluter pays principle and upheld compensation to affected farmers. The Madras High Court later required zero liquid discharge from the Tirupur dyeing units.

11.3 Water pollution and sewage; STPs and water pollution

Untreated municipal sewage is the single largest source of pollution in Indian rivers. A large proportion of the sewage generated in urban India is not treated, because Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) are inadequate in number and capacity, and many existing plants do not function to design. A municipal corporation is a 'person' under the Act, and discharge from its sewers and drains is sewage effluent requiring consent. The courts and the NGT have directed time-bound construction and operation of STPs, and the NGT has imposed substantial environmental compensation on States for failing to treat sewage and manage solid waste.

11.4 Water pollution by municipal bodies

Municipal bodies are simultaneously regulators of sanitation and among the largest polluters. The law holds them to account in three ways. They must obtain consent and meet standards like any other discharger. Under Section 48 the heads of Government departments are personally liable to a penalty. And the courts have enforced their statutory duties directly: in Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, (1980) 4 SCC 162, financial inability was rejected as a defence, and in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (1988) 1 SCC 471, the Supreme Court directed the Kanpur municipal body to prevent sewage and waste from dairies and other sources entering the Ganga, and to construct sewers and treatment facilities.

11.5 River pollution

River pollution combines industrial effluent, untreated sewage, solid waste, agricultural run-off and reduced flow. The Ganga has been the subject of continuing litigation since M.C. Mehta in the 1980s, of the Ganga Action Plan (1985), the National Ganga River Basin Authority (2009) and the Namami Gange programme (2014), and of authorities constituted under the EPA in 2016 for its rejuvenation. The NGT in 2017 prohibited dumping of waste within 500 metres of the Ganga and declared a no-development zone along its banks in the segment it was examining. The CPCB identifies polluted river stretches on the basis of monitoring data, and State action plans are monitored by the NGT.

11.6 Groundwater pollution

Groundwater supplies most of India's drinking water and irrigation. It is polluted by industrial effluent discharged on land or into bore-wells, by leachate from landfills, by agricultural chemicals and by naturally occurring arsenic and fluoride. The Water Act reaches it because 'stream' includes 'sub-terranean waters' and Section 24 prohibits polluting matter entering any well or 'on land'. The Bichhri case (Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action, 1996) concerned toxic sludge that contaminated aquifers, and Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (2017) concerned groundwater in industrial Gujarat. Extraction, as distinct from pollution, is regulated by the Central Ground Water Authority, constituted under Section 3(3) of the EPA after M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (1997) 11 SCC 312. In the Plachimada controversy in Kerala, the High Court considered whether excessive extraction of groundwater by a bottling plant violated the public trust, illustrating that groundwater raises questions of quantity as well as quality.

12. Critical Appraisal

The Water Act created a durable institutional framework, but its record in cleaning India's rivers is weak. The Boards have lacked staff, laboratories and independence; municipal sewage, the largest source of pollution, was for long treated leniently; and prosecutions under the old criminal provisions were slow and rare. The 2024 amendment aims to make enforcement faster through adjudicated penalties and to reduce compliance burdens through exemptions and uniform guidelines. Critics fear that capped monetary penalties will be treated as a cost of business and that central exemption powers weaken State control. The effect of the reform will depend on whether the Boards use their inspection, consent and closure powers vigorously, and whether the adjudicating officers impose penalties that genuinely deter.

13. Related Topics and Provisions