Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M.C. Mehta vs Union Of India on 26 July, 2024
Author: Abhay S. Oka
Bench: Abhay S. Oka
ITEM NO.15 COURT NO.6 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
WRIT PETITION(S)(CIVIL) NO(S). 13029/1985
M.C. MEHTA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
(IN RE: SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL AND IA NOS. 134634/2018 (APPEAL AGAINST ORDER PASSED BY REGISTRAR(J-I) ON B/O GENERAL INSURANCE COUNCIL) AND REPORT OF COMMISSION FOR AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT NAME OF THE FOLLOWING ADVOCATES MAY BE TREATED TO HAVE BEEN SHOWN IN THE LIST: MR. HARISH N. SALVE, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MS. APARAJITA SINGH, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. A.D.N. RAO, SR. ADVOCATE (A.C.) MR. SIDDHARTHA CHOWDHURY, ADVOCATE (A.C.) PETITIONER-IN-PERSON MR. G.S. MAKKER, MR. AMRISH KUMAR, MR. M. K. MARORIA, MR. SANJAY KR. VISEN, MR. SUDEEP KUMAR, MS. ROOHE HINA DUA, MR. SANDEEP KR. JHA, MR. JYOTI MENDIRATTA MR. RAJIV M. ROY, ADVOCATES) Date: 26-07-2024 This matter was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ABHAY S. OKA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Mrs. Aparajita Singh, Sr. Adv. (A.C.) Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Adv. (A.C.) Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, Adv. Ms. Shibani Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, Adv.
For Applicant(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. Rajeev M. Roy, AOR For Parties Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Rajesh K. Singh, Adv. Mr. S.S. Rebello, Adv. Mr. Subharanshu Padi, Adv.Signature Not Verified Mr. Wasim Qadri, Adv. Digitally signed by ASHISH KONDLE
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.Date: 2024.07.30 20:15:11 IST Reason:
Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.1
Mr. S. Wasim A Quadri, Sr. Adv. Ms. Suvangana Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv. Mr. Lavkesh Bhambhani, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv. Mr. Ameet Siingh, Adv. Mr. Nityanand Mahato, Adv. Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Petitioner-in-person Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., AOR Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR Mr. S.S. Shroff, AOR Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain, AOR Mr. Aniruddha Deshmukh, AOR M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Gunmaya S Mann, Adv. Mr. Roop Narain, Adv. Mr. Vineet Kumar, Adv. Mr. Hokesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kuldeep, Adv.
Mr. Sambhav Jain, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv.
Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv.
Mr. Ravindra Bana, AOR Mr. R.P. Gupta, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR 2 Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR M/S. M.V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mr. Pramod Dayal, AOR Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR M/S. Saharya & Co., AOR Mr. Rakesh Kumar-I, AOR M/S. S. Narain & Co., AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Mr. Pavan Kumar, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Archna Pathak Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kr. Singh, Adv. Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Wasim Qadri, Adv. Mr. S.S. Rebello, Adv.
Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. E.C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Pradeep Kumar Bakshi, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. V.K. Verma, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR 3 Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Ms. Adviteeya, Adv. Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR Mr. Sudhir Mendiratta, AOR Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, AOR Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Hardeep Singh Anand, AOR Mr. Sandeep Narain, AOR Mr. Sushil Kumar Singh, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Ms. Nandini Gidwaney, AOR Mr. Shri Narain, AOR Mr. Umesh Kumar Khaitan, AOR Mrs. Priya Puri, AOR Mr. Sharad Kumar Puri, Adv. Ms. Pinki Aggarwal, Adv. Ms. Parul Sharama, Adv.
Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mrs. K. Sarada Devi, AOR Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, AOR Mr. Vishal, Adv.4
Mr. Jeet Singh, Adv. Mr. Kapil Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Amit Trivedi, Adv. Mrs. Subhadra Dwivedi, Adv.
Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. B.K. Satija, A.A.G. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Mr. Nikunj Gupta, Adv. Ms. Himanshi Shakya, Adv. Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR Mr. T.V. Ratnam, AOR Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR Ms. Srishti Mishra, Adv.
Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR Ms. Astha Tyagi, AOR Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR Mr. Mritunjay Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Durga Dutt, AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T. K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. N.P. Singh, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, AOR Mr. Gaurav Choudhary, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. S.S. Shroff, AOR Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR Ms. Srija Choudhury, Adv. Mr. Anant, Adv.
Ms. Sajal Bhardwaj, Adv.
Mr. Rishi Matoliya, AOR 5 Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Archana Pathak Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mrs. Alka Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar B, Adv. Ms. Baby Devi Bonia, Adv. Mr. Anirudh Bhat, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh II, Adv.
Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Shashank Singh, Adv. Mr. R B Singh, Adv.
Mr. Sunil Singh, Adv.
Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Mr. Piyush Yadav, Adv. Ms. Akanksha Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rajiv Yadav, AOR Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR Ms. Nidhi Mohan Parashar, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Mr. Nitin Saluja, AOR Mr. Deepayan Mandal, AOR Mr. Mridul Bansal, Adv. Mr. Naman Varma, Adv.
Ms. Shalu Sharma, AOR Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR Mr. Akhil Anand, AOR Mr. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kr. Singh, Adv. Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv.6
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.
Mr. Rishi Malhotra, AOR Mr. Prakash Ranjan Nayak, AOR Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR Mr. Prasanna S., AOR Ms. Mithu Jain, AOR Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Ms. Surabhi Singh, Adv.
M/S. Ahmadi Law Offices, AOR Mr. Shariq Ahmed, Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Sr. Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Subhranshu Padhi, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. M.P. Devanath, AOR Mr. R.C. Kohli, AOR Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR Mr. Aakarshan Aditya, AOR Mr. Qazi Nayeem Ahmad, Adv. Mr. Shivram Pandey, Adv. Mrs. Sandhya Pandey, Adv. Mr. Satish C Kaushik, Adv.7
Mr. Vinodh Kanna B., AOR Mr. Sandeep Singh, AOR Ms. N. Annapoorani, AOR Mr. Anand Prakash Yadav, Adv.
Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Ms. Neeru Vaid, AOR Mr. M.G. Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Swapna Sheshadri, Adv. Mr. K.V. Mohan, AOR Mr. Amal Nair, Adv.
Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, AOR Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Ravi Prakash, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. R. Rajaselvan, Adv.
Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Alok Gupta, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Ms. Surabhi Sanchita, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Mr. S Prabakaran, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv. Mr. Maheswaran Prabakaran, Adv. Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv. Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv. Mr. G Jai Singh, Adv. Mr. Muthu Ganesa Pandian, Adv.8
M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR Mr. Sagar Roy, Adv.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh, Adv. Mr. Purushottam, Adv. Mr. Sunil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Anki Kashyap, Adv. Mr. Ravi Anand, Adv. Mr. Mata Prasad Singh, Adv. Mr. Sourav Kumar Mitra, Adv. Ms. Sreya Singh, Adv. Mr. Sudhanshu Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Amitab Pandey, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sahay, Adv. Mr. Soudip Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Subhro Sanyal, AOR Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Mr. Rakesh Kumar-I, AOR Mr. Parminder Singh Bhullar, AOR Mr. Chandrakant Sukumar Sarkar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Narendra Kumar Goyal, Adv. Mr. Ikshit Singhal, Adv. Mr. C.M. Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Saba, Adv.
Ms. Km. Reena, Adv.
Ms. Dibya Kumari, Adv. Ms. Samata Pushkarna Mishra, Adv. Mr. Jagtar Singh, Adv. M/S. Mukesh Kumar Singh & Co., AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Akshata Chhabra, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Yoginder Handoo, AOR Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR Ms. Lubna Naaz, AOR 9 Ms. Shashi Kiran, AOR Dr. Satish Chandra, Adv. Ms. Sangeeta Bhalla, Adv. Mr. Mohinder Nath Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anju Sharma, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Aastha Mehta, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Ms. Prerana Mohapatra, Adv.
Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv. Mr. Anup Kumar Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv.
Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Anuj Bhandari, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Mr. Ashok Panigiri, Adv. Mr. Saket Giri, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi, Adv.
Ms. Garima Kumar, Adv. Mr. Virender Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shalen Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Nischal Kumar Neeraj, AOR Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Mr. Yashraj Singh Bundela, AOR Dr. Navin Kumar Sehrawat, Adv. Mr. Rahul Sejwal, Adv. Mr. Hariom Singh, Adv. Mrs. Pratima Singh, Adv.
Ms. Ishita Jain, AOR Mr. Anand Kumar Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Ankit Bhandari, Adv.10
Mr. Mukesh Verma, Adv. Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Pawan Kumar Shukla, Adv. Mr. Krishna Prakash Dubey, Adv. Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR Mrs. Rajshri Dubey, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Amit P Shahi, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Yadav, Adv. Mr. Shashibushan Nagar, Adv. Mr. Rahul Sethi, Adv. Ms. Sana Saifi, Adv. Ms. Bharti Malik Sindhu, Adv. Ms. Meeta, Adv.
Mr. Mayank Singh Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Ms. Lihzu Shiney Konyak, Adv.
Mr. T.R.B. Sivakumar, AOR Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR Ms. Davinder Pal Kaur, Adv. Mr. Bhajan Lal, Adv. Mr. Praveen Pathak, Adv. Mr. Santosh Anandrao Jadhav, Adv. Mr. Dewashish Vishwakarma, Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, ASG Ms. Shagun Thakur, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Harsh V. Surana, AOR Mr. S.S. Ray, Adv.
Mr. Shubhaankar Ray, Adv. Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Ms. Charu Ambwani, AOR Mr. Vinay Garg, AOR M/S. M.V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR 11 Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv. Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv. Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Ravi Shanker Jha, Adv.
Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. Puneet Taneja, AOR Mr. Amit Yadav, Adv. Mr. Manmohan Singh Narula, Adv.
Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR Ms. Pragya Barsaiyan, Adv.
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
Ms. Divya Jyoti Singh, AOR Ms. Sunita Luthra, Adv. Mr. Harshit Luthra, Adv. Ms. Mansi Ahuja, Adv.
Ms. Aswathi M.K., AOR Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Mr. D. Kumanan, AOR Ms. Pritha Srikumar Iyer, AOR Mr. Gurminder Singh Ag Punjab, Adv. Mr. Shadan Farasat, A.A.G. Ms. Rooh-e-hina Dua, AOR Mr. Ankit Khera, Adv. Mr. Harshit Khanduja, Adv. Mr. Harshit Anand, Adv.
Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Akshay Girish Ringe, AOR Mr. Gaurav, AOR Ms. Puja Sharma, AOR 12 Mr. Gautam Narayan, AOR Ms. Asmita Singh, Adv. Mr. K.V. Vibu Prasad, Adv. Mr. Anirudh Anand, Adv.
Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. Danish Zubair Khan, AOR Mr. Vikas Mehta, AOR Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv.
Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. Mandeep Singh Vinaik, Adv. Mr. Deepak Bashta, Adv. Ms. Shagun Matta, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv.
Mr. Anurag Kishore, AOR Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Sr. Adv. Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vyom Raghuvanshi, Adv. Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, Adv.
Ms. Purnima Jauhari, AOR Dr. Brij Bhushan K Jauhari, Adv. Mr. Deepak Jyoti Ghildiyal, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Yadav, Adv. Mr. O.P. Singh, Adv.
Mr. Hiren Dasan, AOR Mr. Ajay Vikram Singh, AOR Mr. K. Paari Vendhan, AOR Mr. Rishabh Sancheti, Adv. Ms. Padma Priya, Adv. Mr. Naman Jain, Adv. Mr. Vidhan Malik, Adv.13
Ms. Divya Roy, AOR M/S. S. Narain & Co., AOR Mr. Ayush Sharma, AOR Mr. Vijay Kr. Khanna, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dewivedi, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chawla, Adv. Ms. Diya Khanna, Adv. Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Anushree Prashit Kapadia, AOR Mr. Ketan Paul, AOR Mr. S Prabakaran, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv. Mr. Maheswaran Prabakaran, Adv. Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv. Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv. Mr. G Jai Singh, Adv. Mr. Muthu Ganesa Pandian, Adv. M/S. Ram Sankar & Co, AOR Ms. Malvika Kapila, AOR Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, AOR Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR Mr. Sameer Kumar, AOR Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR Mr. Dhananjaya Mishra, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following 14 O R D E R IN RE: PUC CERTIFICATE IA NO.134634/2018
1. We have perused the order dated 10th August, 2017. The said order accepts the recommendations submitted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA). Based on the recommendations of the EPCA, the following direction was issued:
“There is now no dispute or disagreement about this. However, it is made clear that the Insurance Companies will not insure a vehicle unless it has a valid PUC Certificate on the date of renewal of the insurance policy.
This should be implemented at the earliest.”
2. No provision under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, or any other enactment and rules framed thereunder provides that a motor vehicle insurance policy cannot be renewed unless the vehicle has a valid PUC certificate. As rightly submitted by the learned Solicitor General, if the said direction is implemented in its letter and spirit, it will have disastrous consequences. Many vehicles will continue to ply without third-party insurance. Therefore, we are inclined to allow this Application by deleting the direction described above.
3. Obviously, the direction was issued to ensure that every motor vehicle always has a valid PUC certificate. If motor vehicles are allowed to ply on roads without valid PUC certificates, it adds to the existing pollution. Therefore, there has to be some effective 15 and practical solution. An attempt was made to find an effective solution, as seen from the Note dated 15th July 2024, submitted by Ms Aparajita Singh, learned Senior Advocate appointed as Amicus Curiae. The suggestion is based on Report No.99 of the EPCA, which notes the limitations of the PUC tests and has recommended the introduction of remote sensing technology in addition to PUC tests for controlling vehicular pollution. A direction was issued by this Court on 19th August 2019 to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) as well as the Ministry of Law to take a final decision in the matter and to file a status report. The learned Amicus Curiae submitted that yesterday a report has been filed, which, according to her, is disappointing in the sense that the technology which can be effectively used to control the pollution caused by the vehicles has not appealed to MoRTH. When a body like EPCA had recommended the use of remote sensing technology in addition to PUC tests, MoRTH ought to have taken the suggestion seriously. The learned Solicitor General assures the Court that MoRTH will reconsider the issue. This issue has been hanging fire for the last four years. We are of the view that somewhere a beginning has to be made by commencing the use of remote sensing technology. Therefore, to begin with, it will be appropriate if the use of remote sensing technology can commence in NCR States. MoRTH shall seek the cooperation of the concerned Authorities of the NCR States for this purpose. If MoRTH finds that the concerned Authorities of the NCR States are not cooperating, we permit MoRTH to move this Court so that a notice can be issued to the concerned 16 Authorities of the NCR States.
4. We grant MoRTH two months to reconsider its position and make an appropriate decision based on our suggestions above.
5. Needless to add, the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways shall immediately convene a meeting of his counterparts and Secretaries of the concerned Departments of the NCR States. MoRTH shall forward copies of this order to the relevant departments of the NCR States to ensure their full cooperation.
6. This Application stands allowed accordingly. IN RE: SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
1. We have perused the affidavit filed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). We agree with the submission made by Ms Aparajita Singh, learned Senior Advocate appointed as Amicus Curiae, that in Delhi, the prevailing situation may lead to a health emergency as the generation of solid waste per day in the capital city is above 11000 metric tonnes and the capacity of the processing plants made available by the MCD is only 8073 metric tonnes per day. Therefore, about 3000 metric tonnes of untreated solid waste is accumulating daily in the capital city, and we are sure this figure will gradually increase with every passing day. In the affidavit filed by the MCD, they have come up with the timelines for setting up additional facilities or for enhancing the capacity of the existing facilities. It is pointed out that 17 litigations are pending. We do not see the light at the end of the tunnel as going by the affidavit of the MCD and assuming that the timelines mentioned therein are abided by, there is no possibility of creating required facilities in the capital city even till 2027, which will have the capacity to deal with 11000 metric tonnes of solid waste per day. No guesswork is required to state that by that time, the generation of solid waste will multiply. We agree with the learned Amicus Curiae that this will lead to a public health emergency. This is a sorry state of affairs when it comes to the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 (for short, “2016 Rules”) in the capital city.
2. We, therefore, direct the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of the Government of India to immediately convene a meeting of all the concerned State Government officials, the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and its officials for working out an immediate solution to the issue. We direct the Secretary of the MoEFCC of the Government of India to submit a report to this Court about immediate measures required to be taken for ensuring that non- compliance with the 2016 Rules does not create serious health emergency in the capital city of Delhi.
3. Our attention is invited to an affidavit filed on behalf of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India. It is stated that on 10th July 2024, the MCD moved the Government of NCT of Delhi to delegate 18 financial power to the MCD as per the provisions of Section 202 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, to approve the rates and agency contracts beyond a sum of Rs.5 crores relating to solid waste management projects. We direct the Government of NCT of Delhi to immediately consider the said proposal dated 10 th July, 2024 and take an appropriate decision within three weeks from today. The Registry shall forward a copy of this order to the Chief Secretary of the Government of NCT of Delhi. The proposal dated 10th July, 2024 clearly states that it is limited to solid waste management projects. Considering the prevailing situation, if this relief is not granted to the MCD, it will not be able to comply with the 2016 Rules. The Government shall take note of this factual position
4. The situation within the limits of Gurugram, Faridabad and Greater NOIDA is equally bad. For example, the total generation of solid waste in Gurugram is 1200 metric tonnes per day, but the processing capacity of the plants is only of 254 metric tonnes per day. Regarding Faridabad, the total generation of solid waste is 1000 metric tonnes per day, and the processing capacity of plants is approximately of 410 metric tonnes per day. The situation in the Greater NOIDA is slightly better. We, therefore, direct the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India to immediately convene a meeting with the Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Commissioners of the Municipal Corporations at Gurugram and 19 Faridabad, officials of the Greater NOIDA and the Secretaries of the Department of Environment of the State Governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and come out with immediate solutions to deal with the crisis which will lead to public health emergency. The report regarding Delhi and these three areas of Gurugram, Faridabad and Greater NOIDA shall be submitted by the Secretary of the MoEFCC of the Government of India within one month from today.
5. For considering the issue regarding solid waste management, list on 6th September, 2024.
(ASHISH KONDLE) (AVGV RAMU) COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER (NSH) 20