A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, on Monday, directed the State government and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to give it a list of the issues relating to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant which could be gone into by the expert committee proposed by it.
The Bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A.M. Shaffique adjourned the case to January 2. The court declined the plea of the Vilappilsala Janakeeya Samara Samithi against the constitution of an expert committee.
In a statement, the Samithi said that a study by an expert committee was unwarranted. As the land bought by the Corporation was located in a thickly populated area and had a habitation cluster as defined under the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules 2000, the land proposed for the plant was not suitable for the project. Besides, there were waterbodies and monuments adjacent to the plant.
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Counsel for the Samithi said a report of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had stated that the plant would cause heavy pollution in the area. Even the Advocate Commissioner appointed by the court had reported various environmental and health-related problems in the area.
The Corporation should find out alternative methods, including decentralised waste management system within its territory. If at all an expert committee was to be constituted, it should conduct studies into alternative methods of disposal of waste generated in the Corporation, the Samithi said.
It had suggested the name of C.M. Joy, Associate Professor, SH College, Thevara, and N. Chandra Mohana Kumar, Professor, Department of Chemical Oceanography, Cochin University of Science and Technology, for inclusion in the expert panel list.
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The government and the Corporation had earlier given their list of experts.