Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 49 - CONSERVATION AND ECOLOGY (§§ 49-NEW-001 — 49-39-7) › Chapter 17 - POLLUTION OF WATERS, STREAMS, AND AIR (§§ 49-17-1 — 49-17-775) › IN GENERAL (§§ 49-17-1 — 49-17-45) › Section 49-17-41 - Administrative appeals; appeals to chancery court; appeals to Supreme Court

In addition to any other remedies that might now be available, any person or interested party aggrieved by any order of the commission or the executive director shall have a right to file a sworn petition with the commission within thirty (30) days after the order was issued setting forth the grounds and reasons for his complaint and asking for a hearing of the matter involved, provided that no hearing on the same subject matter shall have been previously held before the commission or its designated hearing officer. The commission shall thereupon fix the time and place of such hearing and shall notify the petitioners thereof. In such pending matters, the commission shall have the same full powers as to subpoenaing witnesses, administering oaths, examining witnesses under oath and conducting the hearing, as is now vested by law in the Mississippi Public Service Commission, as to hearings before it, with the additional power that the executive director may issue all subpoenas, both at the instance of the petitioner and of the commission. At such hearings the petitioner, and any other interested party, may offer, present witnesses and submit evidence.
Following such hearing, the final order of determination of the commission upon such matters shall be conclusive, unless the petitioner, or such other interested party appearing at the hearing, shall, within fifteen (15) days after the adjournment of the meeting at which said final order was made, appeal to the chancery court of the county where the hearing was held, or of the situs in whole or in part of the subject matter of the hearing by giving a cost bond with sufficient sureties, payable to the state in the sum of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), to be fixed in the order appealed from, to be filed with and approved by the executive director of the commission, who shall forthwith certify the same together with a certified copy of the record of the commission in the matter to the chancery court to which the appeal is taken, which shall thereupon become the record of the cause. An appeal to the chancery court as provided herein shall not stay the execution of an order of the commission. Any party aggrieved by an order of the commission may, within said fifteen (15) days after the adjournment of the commission meeting at which said final order was entered, petition the chancery court of the situs in whole or in part of the subject matter for an appeal with supersedeas, and the chancellor shall grant a hearing on said petition and upon good cause shown may grant said appeal with supersedeas; the appellant shall be required to post a bond with sufficient sureties according to law in an amount to be determined by the chancellor. Appeals shall be considered only upon the record as made before the commission. The chancery court shall always be deemed open for hearing of such appeals and the chancellor may hear the same in termtime or in vacation at any place in his district, and the same shall have precedence over all civil cases, except election contests. The chancery court shall review all questions of law and of fact. If no prejudicial error be found, the matter shall be affirmed and remanded to the commission for enforcement. If prejudicial error be found, the same shall be reversed and the chancery court shall remand the matter to the commission for appropriate action as may be indicated or necessary under the circumstances. Appeals may be taken from the chancery court to the Supreme Court in the manner as now required by law, except that if a supersedeas is desired by the party appealing to the chancery court he may apply therefor to the chancellor thereof, who shall award a writ of supersedeas, without additional bond, if in his judgment material damage is not likely to result thereby, but otherwise he shall require such supersedeas bond as he deems proper, which shall be liable to the state for such damage.
Codes, 1942, § 7106-128; Laws, 1966, ch. 258, § 18; Laws, 1972, ch. 505, § 15; Laws, 1987, ch. 332, § 6; Laws, 1988, ch. 312, § 3, eff. 7/1/1988.