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Mangalore, Apr 9: The Assistant Commissioner’s (AC) court on Tuesday postponed the hearing on the ‘oil leakage’ petition, filed against the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), to April 15.

In a petition, William D’Sou za, a resident of Kuthethoor, had alleged that the drinking and irrigation water of Lilly D’Souza and other ten residents were polluted due to the leakage of petroleum substances from the MRPL.

Based on the complaint, AC Samir Shukla had conducted an on-site inspection at Atturkodi in Kuthethoor on April 2 and had collected the water samples from the ponds. In the court, MRPL has argued that there is more than one kilometre difference between the company and the pond situated in Lilly D’Souza’s property. So, MRPL was not at all responsible, if the water in their pond had petroleum smell, it stated, adding that their oil reserve tanks were all leak proofed.

The MRPL pointed out that the water in the well of nearby resident Juliana D’Souza was not polluted and it pleaded the court to decide only after checking the lab analysis of the collected water samples from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s (KSPCB) laboratory.

Meanwhile, William D’Souza filed an objection in the AC court on Tuesday asserting that it was because of oil leakage from the MRPL, the water was polluted. Even Mangalore tahsildar, in his site-inspection report, had stated that the water in Lilly D’Souza’s water resource was not fit for drinking, he reminded.