The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has not yet been able to recover environment compensation of ₹14.92 crore from the Kochi Corporation “for its failure to comply with norms under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016” despite repeated directives from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
An assessment of reports submitted by the board before the Southern Bench of the NGT in the case related to serious gaps in waste management at the dumping yard of the Corporation at Brahmapuram had revealed the delay in recovering environment compensation. The notice asking the Corporation to remit ₹14.92 crore was issued in January 2021.
In the report submitted on September 6, the Chief Environmental Engineer at the Ernakulam regional office of the PCB said the Corporation had obtained a Kerala High Court stay on the notice for recovering environment compensation. The board had filed a writ petition against the Corporation’s plea before the High Court. A senior PCB official in Thiruvananthapuram said the stay had not yet been vacated.
The report had pointed out that a show-cause notice had been issued to the Corporation Secretary in March 2021, asking why action, including prosecution measures, should not be taken for repeated violations at Brahmapuram and fire incidents caused by the piling up of old waste at the site. The board admitted that it had not yet initiated prosecution measures against the Corporation.
The NGT’s Principal Bench in New Delhi had said in February 2020 that the “non-compliance with rules related to waste disposal results in damage to the environment and public health. Any failure needs to be visited with assessment and recovery of compensation for such damage from persons responsible for such failure.” It had earlier warned that the Chairman and Member Secretary of the PCB would be held liable for failure to initiate prosecution and recover compensation from erring local bodies.
