Observing orally that it is time for the State government to dissolve the elected council of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for its failure to take quick measures to stop illegal disposal of garbage and appoint an administrator, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday gave two weeks to the government to intervene in BBMP’s affairs to ensure proper disposal of garbage as per the law.
As the Advocate-General assured the court that the government will intervene in the BBMP’s affair and sought two weeks’ time, the court refrained, for the second time, from passing an interim order to restrain the BBMP from granting permission to put up certain categories of new constructions for a specific period till infrastructure is created for lawful disposal of waste.
The court, in its October 15, 2019 order, had cautioned that it may have to impose restrictions on new constructions as BBMP lacked facilities for lawful disposal of waste while asking the government to examine whether there is a case to dissolve the BBMP for its failure to enforce Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000 and Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016 and the other rules framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar made these observations after expressing dissatisfaction over the action taken by the BBMP. The bench pointed out that the Bombay High Court had passed an order staying permission for new constructions in Mumbai city for failure of the Mumbai civic body to effectively dispose waste, and the Supreme Court had approved the order of the Bombay High Court.
The bench directed the BBMP to place data of daily collection of municipal waste from January 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 while observing that no clear data is available on generation and disposal of municipal waste in the city. Though the BBMP claims that 4,200 metric tonnes of waste is generated in the city, it has admitted that only 1,500 metric tonnes of waste is being disposed as per the law and the remaining waste is illegally dumped in quarry pits. However, the petitioners claimed that the waste generated is higher than the claim made by the BBMP.
