People who have benefitted over the years by the rapid strides made on the economic front and enjoyed the fruits of its boom by migrating to the urban and semi-urban areas have a duty towards addressing civic problems. They cannot object the establishment of micro-compost yards in public parks, when solid waste management (SWM) has become a global concern, the Madras High Court said on Thursday.
A Full Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan, V. Parthiban and P.T. Asha said: “When every citizen is a waste generator, he/she cannot expect his/her waste to go somewhere else… The right to disown the waste generated by every citizen is no more available and such luxury is not to be made available any more in this era… Decentralisation of processing of waste is a civic imperative due to the alarming shrinkage of urban space.”
Authoring the verdict for the Bench, Justice Parthiban wrote: “It cannot be the case of the citizens or the people that no matter what the development going all around them and yet, no waste disposal facility to be made available nearer to them. Such attitude ought to change with the times we live in and whole-hearted participation of all citizens will only make the solid waste-management policy successful.”
The first Division Bench, led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, had referred the case to a Full Bench (comprising three judges) for an authoritative pronouncement, since other Division Benches of the court had taken contradictory views on the issue of permitting Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, town panchayats and other local bodies to establish micro compost yards in small spaces inside public parks.
‘Faulty implementation’
After analysing the issue threadbare, the Full Bench, in its 390-page judgment, concurred with the apprehensions of resident welfare associations that there was always the possibility of parks or play areas sliding and degenerating into squalid places if micro compost yards were not maintained properly. There would always be issues in the implementation of the SWM policy, they said.
However, the visionary and futuristic policy could not be discarded apprehending faulty implementation, the Bench added. It directed the government to constitute committees at the State, district, municipal and panchayat levels, including local residents to ensure the proper upkeep and maintenance of the compost yards. The committees must be empowered to intervene and take remedial action, the Bench said.
“If there is any negligence on the part of the officials towards the proper upkeep and maintenance of micro compost yards, stern disciplinary action should be initiated against them,” the judges said, directing the government to issue a comprehensive circular, incorporating all guidelines for the effective functioning of the committees and the sincere implementation of SWM Rules, 2016.
