WPPIL/93/2022
2022 Latest Caselaw 2585 UK

    IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
               AT NAINITAL
          HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
                             AND
                HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R.C. KHULBE

                         23RD AUGUST, 2022

          WRIT PETITION (PIL) No. 93 OF 2022

Between:

Jitender Yadav.
                                                                   ...Petitioner
and

Union of India and others.
                                                              ...Respondents

Counsel for the petitioner. : Mr. Dushyant Mainali, the learned counsel.

Counsel for the respondent no. 1. : Mr. Lalit Sharma, the learned Standing Counsel for the Union of India.

Counsel for the respondent no. 2, : Mr. C.S. Rawat, the learned Chief 3, 4, 7 and 8. Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand.

Counsel for the respondent no. 5. : Mr. Rajeev Bhatt, the learned counsel.

Counsel for the respondent no. 6. : Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, the learned counsel.

Counsel for the Nagar Nigam, : Mr. Ashish Joshi, the learned counsel. Haldwani

ORDER : (per Sri Vipin Sanghi, C.J.)

In response to the show cause notice issued

by this Court, vide order dated 03.08.2022, to the

Municipal Commissioner, Haldwani Municipal

Corporation, for initiation of contempt proceedings, a

compliance affidavit has been filed by Shri Pankaj

Upadhyay, presently posted as Municipal Commissioner, Nagar Nigam Haldwani-Kathgodam, Haldwani, District

Nainital.

2. The said affidavit talks about the steps taken

by the Municipal Corporation of Haldwani-Kathgodam to

implement the ban on use of single use plastic in the

State of Uttarakhand from 01.07.2022. In relation to

the issue highlighted by the petitioner on 03.08.2022,

with regard to collection of garbage at the backyard of

the Medical College Colony; Mandi Bypass Road,

Haldwani; and the road adjacent to the Forest Training

Institute, the affidavit discloses that the local residents

and the business owners illegally throw their garbage at

the place in question. The deponent states that the area

has been cleared of the garbage on 12.08.2022, and a

board has been installed to inform the public at large

that they should not throw garbage on the said land.

Photographs of the cleaning exercise, undertaken with

the assistance of an NGO, namely "Go Clean Go Green",

have been placed on record. He further states that, to

avoid collection of garbage at the places in question,

letter dated 12.08.2022 has been issued to the Public

Works Department, Haldwani to construct pathway by

using interlocking tiles, so that additional space will be

available to the vehicles, and the problem of

collection/throwing of garbage in barren land(s) can be

sorted out. Similarly, the development and

beautification work of the FTI road has been taken up by

the Nagar Nigam, Haldwani, for which a sum of Rupees

One Crore has been approved.

3. The Municipal Commissioner, Shri Pankaj

Upadhyay, is also present in Court today and he assures

the Court that, within one month from today, the action

plan for disposal of solid waste in Haldwani-Kathgodam

shall not only be formulated, but also implemented. We

take this assurance on record, and he shall remain

bound by the same. Let a further affidavit be filed by

Shri Pankaj Upadhyay within four weeks to inform the

Court what further steps are taken and implemented to

deal with solid waste, and the steps taken to manage

the same in Haldwani-Kathgodam.

4. We had directed filing of affidavits by all the

District Magistrates vide our order dated 07.07.2022.

The affidavits have to be filed on various aspects.

Further directions were issued on 03.08.2022. Though,

some of the affidavits have been filed, it appears that

two affidavits are under objection, and two have not

been filed. We direct the respondents to ensure to bring

all the affidavits on record.

5. We have requested Mr. Dushyant Mainali, the

learned counsel for the petitioner, to study all the

affidavits and make a tabulation, which should indicate

the specific directions issued by us; the stand taken in

the response affidavits by the authorities concerned,

with reference to the page numbers of the record. He

should also highlight the aspects, which have not been

responded to by the authorities concerned in terms of

the directions issued by this Court.

6. Mr. Dushyant Mainali has also drawn our

attention to the detailed judgment rendered by a

Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 80

of 2012, decided on 16.03.2017. This judgment

contains exhaustive directions issued, inter alia, to the

Municipal Corporations, Nagar Panchayats, Municipal

Councils and Panchayati Raj Institutions to deal with the

issue of garbage/ solid waste, and regarding its

management. Mr. Dushyant Mainali submits that these

directions have not been implemented by the authorities

concerned. The directions, which have been issued by

the Court in this decision, are the following :-

"89. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed. The following mandatory directions are hereby issued to the respondents for proper management of solid waste: -

A. We direct that all the streets, public premises such as parks etc. shall be surface cleaned on daily basis, including on Sundays and Public holidays by Municipal Corporations, Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Panchayati Raj Institutions.

B. All the Officers of the municipal corporations, municipal bodies, Nagar Panchayats, Panchayati Raj Institutions shall ensure that no garbage, rubbish, filth etc. is deposited by any person in any street or public place. The Magistrates appointed under Sections 20/21 of the Code of Civil Procedure and under Section 487 of the U.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1959 are authorized to impose and levy fines for violation of statutory provisions of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, U.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 as well as U.K. Panchayati Raj Institutions, in addition to the officers already appointed to do so, as mentioned hereinabove.

C. All the workers deployed for cleaning the streets and removal of garbage including bio- degradable medical waste should be provided with necessary equipments including uniforms, shoes, gloves and other implements etc. for winters and summers separately and also proper uniforms which have reflectors and be provided with ID cards also.

D. All the streets and roads falling within the municipal areas, municipal corporation/Panchayati Raj institutions should be surface cleaned in the morning.

E. The State Government is directed to take decision on all the proposals sent to it by the Municipal Bodies for managing the Solid Waste in their territorial jurisdiction within four weeks from today.

F. The Municipal Corporation/Municipal bodies, throughout the State, may consider to provide two dustbins (for collection of dry and wet bio- medical waste), free-of-cost, to all the households in the Municipal area, depending on their financial health.

G. The Nagar Nigam, Dehradun and Nagar Nigam, Haridwar are directed to complete the tender process relating to solid waste management, if not already completed, within eight weeks from today and thereafter to implement the Solid Waste Management Scheme.

H. The Principal Secretary, Urban Development of the State of Uttarakhand is directed to prepare the State policy and strategy on solid waste management for the entire State in consultation with the stakeholders within a period of three months from today.

I. The Town Planning Department of the State of Uttarakhand through Secretary, Town Planning is directed to ensure that the Master Plan of every city in the State is having the provision for setting up of solid waste processing and disposal facilities.

J. The Principal Secretary, Urban Development of the State of Uttarakhand is directed to ensure identification and allocation of suitable land to the local bodies within three months from today for setting up of processing and disposal facilities for solid wastes and incorporate them in the master plan.

K. The Town Planning Department through its Secretary and all the local bodies throughout the State of Uttarakhand are directed to ensure that a separate place for segregation, storage, decentralized processing of solid waste is demarcated in the development plan for group housing or commercial, institutional or any other non-residential building exceeding 200 dwellings.

L. All the District Magistrates in the State of Uttarakhand, in coordination with the Secretary, Urban Development, are directed to ensure identification and allocation of suitable land, as per Clause 11(f) of the Rules of 2016, for setting up of solid waste processing and disposal facilities.

M. The Secretary Panchayats/Rural Development of the State of Uttarakhand is directed to prepare a State Policy and Solid Waste Management Strategy for the entire State in consultation with stakeholders within a period of three months from today.

N. All the local bodies and Village Panchayats, throughout the State of Uttarakhand, are directed to prepare the Solid Waste Management Plans as per the State Policy and Solid Waste Management Strategy and submit the same to the respective departments of the State. These shall be processed by the State and the final decision shall be taken within six months.

O. All the local bodies including Village Panchayats are directed to ensure door to door collection of segregated solid waste from all households including slums and informal settlements, commercial, institutional and other non residential institutions.

P. There shall be a general direction to all the Waste Generators, throughout the State of Uttarakhand, not to litter i.e. throw or dispose of any waste such as paper, water bottles, liquor bottles, soft drink canes, tetra packs, fruit peel, wrappers, etc., or burn or bury waste on streets, open public spaces, drains, waste bodies and to segregate the waste at source. The local bodies must also consider imposing heavy fine on the violators of the order.

Q. The local authorities and Village Panchayats are further directed to set up material recovery facilities or secondary storage facilities with sufficient space for sorting of recyclable materials.

R. The municipal authorities and Gram Panchayats are further directed to establish waste deposition centres for domestic hazardous waste.

S. The local authorities and Gram Panchayats are directed to ensure safe storage and transportation of the domestic hazardous waste to the hazardous waste disposal facility.

T. All the local bodies of the State are directed to ensure that the Sweepers, throughout the State, do not burn leaves collected from street sweeping and with a further direction to store them separately and handover the same to the waste collectors or agency authorised by the local body.

U. All the local bodies are directed to transport segregated bio-degradable waste to the processing facilities like compost plant, bio-

methanation plant. They are further directed to transport non-biodegradable waste to the respective processing facilities.

V. All the local bodies of the State are hereby directed to construct, operate and maintain the solid waste processing facilities either individually or through any agency within six months.

W. All the local bodies are directed to construct, operate and maintain the sanitary landfills as per the norms laid down in Schedule-I of the Rules of 2016.

X. The Principal Secretary(s), Urban Development Department, Gram Panchayat and Rural Development are directed to create public awareness through information, education and communication campaign and educate the waste generators by educating the citizens (i) not to litter (ii) minimise generation of waste (iii) reuse the waste to the extent possible (iv) practice segregation of waste into bio-degradable, non- biodegradable (v) practice home composting, vermin-composting (vi) wrap securely used sanitary waste as and when generated in the pouches provided by the brand owners (vii) storage of segregated waste at source in different bins. The general public be also directed to handover segregated waste to the waste pickers, waste collectors, recyclers or waste collection agencies.

Y. There shall be a direction to respondent no.6-

Uttarakhand Environment Protection & Pollution Control Board to ensure due compliance of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 as per Rule 16 of the Rules.

Z. All the District Magistrates, throughout the State of Uttarakhand, shall be held personally responsible for providing suitable land for setting up of solid waste management facilities within their jurisdiction.

AA. All the local bodies are directed to put suitable hoardings at tourist destinations to appraise local as well as tourists not to dispose of any waste such as paper, water bottles, liquor bottles, soft drink canes, tetra packs etc. on the streets or into water bodies or down the hills.

BB. There shall be a direction to the local authorities i.e. Municipalities, Municipal Corporations and

Panchayat Raj Institutions not to dump the garbage in the river streams/rivulets and forest areas forthwith. The respective District Magistrates shall ensure the compliance of this order at the pains of contempt.

CC. The State Government may consider taking steps under Section 30 of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 against the municipal bodies and under Section 538 of the U.P. Municipal Corporations Act, 1959 against the Municipal Corporations, in case they do not comply with the directions contained in the judgment.

DD. All the municipal authorities, throughout the State of Uttarakhand, are directed to ensure that the bio medical waste is disposed of strictly as per the provisions of Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016. The authorities mentioned in these rules shall be personally responsible for following the mandate of Rules in letter and spirit, failing which contempt proceedings may be initiated against them.

EE. There shall also be a direction to all the municipal authorities to ensure that there is no mixing of bio-medical waste with other municipal solid waste.

FF. The State of Uttarakhand is directed to appoint Magistrates, within six months from today, under Section 20 and/or Section 21 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for ensuring compliance of the provisions of the U.P. (Uttarakhand) Municipalities Act, 1916, U.P. (Uttarakhand) Municipal Corporation Act and Zila Panchayat Act, 2016 and to try the offences specified therefor in relation to littering and causing nuisance, sanitation and public health.

GG. All the Municipalities, Municipal Corporations, Panchayats and other statutory authorities, throughout the State, are directed to regularly publish the names of concerned Superintendents of Sanitation, Medical Officers and Sanitary Officers and such equivalent officers who are responsible for cleaning the State of Uttarakhand who can be approached for any complaint/grievance by the citizens of the State together with their latest office and residential telephone numbers and addresses.

HH. The State Government is directed to ensure that the Municipal Corporations and Municipal bodies frame suitable bye-laws to prohibit the ugly

practice of pasting posters/pamphlets on the government /public properties including walls, religious places, educational institutions, offices, sign boards, signage etc., within a period of three months from today. The State Government is directed to ensure that the action is taken under suitable provisions of law including the U.P. Police Act against those persons who deface/disfigure the aesthetic values of the cities/towns or property by pasting the posters/pamphlets on public/governments properties.

II. It is also made clear that in order to make the cities liveable, all the Municipal Commissioners, Additional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Executive Officers, Elected Members of the Municipalities, Municipal Corporations and Panchayati Raj Institutions would be personally responsible to ensure that no garbage is visible within their territorial jurisdiction.

JJ. All the Municipalities, Municipal Corporations and Panchayati Raj Institutions are directed that no Safari Karamchari shall be forced to get into a manhole without providing him with the necessary equipment including Oxygen Cylinder. It is also directed that as and when any Safai Karamchari enters in a manhole, a duly qualified doctor must be present on the spot to handle any emergency. This direction has been issued taking into consideration the noxious gases emitting from the manholes which are life threatening.

KK. All the Municipalities, Municipal Corporations and Panchayati Raj Institutions are directed to consider granting one month salary as Bonus to the Safai Karamcharis taking into consideration the arduous and hazardous duties being discharged by them.

LL. Copy of this judgment be sent forthwith to the Chief Secretary, State of Uttarakhand, Secretary, Urban Development, Secretary, Rural Development, Secretary, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board as well as to the Comptroller & Auditor General of India for implementation of the direction in letter and spirit.

7. The concerned authorities shall file their

respective affidavits disclosing what steps have been

taken to implement the aforesaid directions. Directions,

which have not been implemented, should also be

indicated.

8. Shri Pankaj Upadhyay, the Municipal

Commissioner, Nagar Nigam Haldwani-Kathgodam,

Haldwani, District Nainital, is exempted from personal

appearance till further orders.

9. List this case on 08.09.2022.

________________ VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.

_____________ R.C. KHULBE, J.

Dt: 23rd August, 2022 Rahul