Uttarakhand High Court
WPMS/3209/2022 on 19 May, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
AND
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI
WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 93 OF 2022
19TH MAY, 2023
BETWEEN:
Jitendra Yadav .....Petitioner.
And
Union of India & others ....Respondents.
Mr. Dushyant Mainali, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Mr. Lalit Sharma, learned Standing Counsel for the Union of India.
Mr. C.S. Rawat, learned Chief Standing Counsel assisted by Mr. Gajendra
Tripathi, learned Brief Holder for the State.
Mr. Aman Rab, learned counsel for respondent no.3.
Mr. Rajeev Bhatt, learned counsel for the Central Pollution Control Board.
Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, learned counsel for the State Pollution Control Board.
Mr. Ashish Joshi, learned counsel for the Nagar Palika Parishad, Haldwani.
With
WRIT PETITION (M/S) NO. 3202 OF 2022
WRIT PETITION (M/S) NO. 3209 OF 2022
WRIT PETITION (M/S) NO. 3334 OF 2022
The Court made the following:
ORDER:(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi) Mr. Mainali has, firstly, pointed out that vide order dated 20.03.2023, in Paragraph No.5, this Court had directed that an endeavour shall be made to procure the Sajra plans of the remaining Van Panchayats area within six weeks, which had not been uploaded, and made available to the Van Panchayats.
2. Mr. Rawat, in this regard, points out that it was wrongly informed to the Court that there are 11,396 Van 2 Panchayats in the State. He states that the correct figure is 11,222 Van Panchayats. He further states that till date, Sajra plans have been made available and uploaded in respect of 10,553 Van Panchayats.
3. We direct the State to continue to endeavour to provide the Sajra plans to the remaining Van Panchayats area within four weeks. The Forest Department, as well as the Revenue Department, are both two limbs of the State, and it cannot be an excuse for the State to not provide and upload the Sajra plans of the remaining Van Panchayats on the ground that they are not available with one, or the other, department. The exercise should be completed, positively, within six weeks. No further time for this purpose shall be granted. The next status report should clearly indicate compliance of this direction.
4. Mr. Mainali has also drawn our attention to Paragraph No.8 onwards of the said order. We had taken note of the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board for assessment of environment compensation to be levied for violation of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. We had directed the State Pollution Control Board to act in terms of the said guidelines in Paragraph No.11 of the said order.
5. Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, who appears for the Uttarakhand State Pollution Control Board, points out that the 3 State Pollution Control Board addressed a communication to the Central Pollution Control Board on 05.04.2023, to seek a clarification with regard to the implementation of the said guidelines. The letter states that the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board has not received any communication regarding execution of said guidelines, and it was inquired whether the guidelines had been issued by the Central Board under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for execution in the State.
6. Learned counsel for the CPCB is present. We direct the CPCB to positively issue the necessary clarification, as sought by the State Pollution Control Board, within the next one week.
7. Mr. Singh has also pointed out that in terms of the notification dated 16.02.2021, issued by the Government of Uttarakhand (at Page No.48 of the record), the State Pollution Control Board is levying fine/ penalty under Clause 5 of the said notification, which is being collected and deposited with the Finance Department of the Government of Uttarakhand under the head 'Other Financial Receipt'.
8. We may notice that the said notification also speaks about the levying of environmental compensation. However, no environmental compensation is being assessed or levied by the State Pollution Control Board, as of now. The guideline 4 issued by the CPCB in September, 2022- in respect whereof, the State Pollution Control Board had sought clarification, lays down the 'Modalities for Expenditure of EC funds' in Clause 6.0. It refers to Clause 9.6 of Schedule- II notified through Amendments to Plastic Waste Management Rules dated 16.02.2022, which provides "the funds collected under environmental compensation shall be kept in a separate Escrow account by Central Pollution Control Board or State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee".
9. Mr. Singh submits that the environmental compensation levied by the State Pollution Control Board should be permitted to be utilized by the State Pollution Control Board, by keeping the said compensation in a separate Escrow account to be opened by the State Pollution Control Board, as the said fund is to be utilized in collection, recycling and end of life disposal of uncollected and non- recycled or non-end of life disposal of plastic packaging waste, on which the environmental compensation is levied. He also states that these guidelines do not state as to, in which account the environmental compensation which is collected, is required to be deposited.
10. We direct the CPCB to issue clear guidelines, not only with regard to the Escrow account, in which such funds have to be held for the purpose of utilization, but also the account into which such environmental compensation is to be 5 collected and deposited in the first place. It should be clearly stated by the CPCB, as to under what circumstances, the environmental compensation is required to be deposited in the Escrow account maintained by the CPCB, or the State Pollution Control Board, or the Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be. The CPCB should issue the necessary clarification in this regard within the next two weeks.
11. In case, the clarification is not issued before the next date, we will be inclined to permit the State Pollution Control Board to open the Escrow account, and to deposit the environmental compensation collected in the said account, and also utilize the same for the purpose of collection, recycling and end of life disposal of uncollected and non- recycled or non-end of life disposal of plastic packaging waste, on which the environmental compensation is levied. Learned counsel for the CPCB shall ensure communication of this order to the CPCB for compliance without any delay.
12. Mr. Mainali has drawn our attention to our direction contained in Paragraph No.15, in our order dated 20.03.2023, whereby we had directed the Director, Urban Development to file an affidavit placing before us the gist of the reports that may have been submitted with regard to the action taken in terms of the directions received from the Central Pollution Control Board, under Section 5 of the Environment 6 (Protection) Act, for implementation of ban on Single Use Plastic (SUP), dated 01.03.2023.
13. In this regard, Mr. Rawat has drawn the attention of this Court to the affidavit filed by Mr. Navneet Pande, Director, Urban Development Department Directorate, Uttarakhand, Dehradun.
14. In his affidavit, Mr. Pande has stated that 81 Urban Local Bodies have already registered under the SUP compliance monitoring portal of the CPCB. As many as 344 field officers from the ULBs have registered in the application. Instructions have been issued to all the local bodies to ensure that their field officers are necessarily registered on the compliance monitoring application. Vide letter dated 09.05.2023, the State Pollution Control Board has been requested to organize trainings for the ULB functionaries to familiarize them with the use of the application. The Urban Development Department has ordered all the ULBs to undertake the mandatory inspections under the overall supervision of the District Magistrate.
15. It is further stated that the ULBs have undertaken extensive enforcement activities since the issuance of the directions by the Central Pollution Control Board. It is informed that joint inspections have been undertaken with personnel from CPCB/ SPCB. Till the filing of the affidavit, a 7 total of 176 such inspections had already been taken place in the ULBs. Due to connectivity issues in remote areas, only 42 reports of such inspections have been uploaded on the Compliance portal so far; 38674 challans have been enforced under the Single Use Plastic ban, and; additional 28030 challans have been issued under the Anti Littering and Anti Spitting Act, and fine to the tune of Rs.1.15 crores has been recovered from the defaulters. A special mention has been made in relation to the efforts made by the Nagar Nigam Roorkee, and Kashipur, where joint inspection with members of CPCB/ SPCB resulted in penalty to the tune of Rs.4.33 lakhs.
16. It is further disclosed that 342 complaints have been received, of which 198 complaints have been resolved.
17. We have interacted with Mr. Pande, who is available online, and he states that a mobile application, namely Swachhata, has been created by the Central Government, on which people can upload their complaint with regard to solid waste collection, and a redressal mechanism has been evolved so that the concerned authorities are alerted about the complaints, and follow up action taken by them is also required to be uploaded. In our view, it is absolutely essential that the said mobile application is given wide publicity so that people at large are aware of such a facility being available. Unless awareness programme is 8 launched to make the people aware of such a facility, it will remain underutilized. The figures, taken note of by us hereinabove, show that the said facility is actually underutilized, as only 342 complaints have been received in respect of 102 ULBs in the State. We direct the State to undertake the publicity campaign to popularize the aforesaid mobile application.
18. This Court, vide its order dated 19.10.2022, had directed creation of an E-mail ID to be maintained by the Registrar (Judicial) of this Court, where all complaints with regard to garbage collection could be reported, and the same be forwarded to the concerned Commissioners for redressal. This Court has been receiving complaints on the said E-mail ID from time to time. Even the said E-mail ID needs to be circulated amongst the public, and the awareness campaign that the State would undertake for popularizing the Swachhata application, should also simultaneously popularize the said E-mail ID, so that the people could lodge their complaints in the said E-mail ID.
19. The Director, Urban Development Department, should file a further status report before the next date, disclosing further progress made in respect of the processes undertaken, as mentioned in Paragraph No.5 onwards of the affidavit dated 15.05.2023.
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20. We have impressed upon Mr. Pande, that apart from enforcing the law in respect of any fresh violation for which inspections are being conducted and fines are imposed, it is equally important, if not more, to remove the existing solid waste and plastic waste from within the ULBs, so that the people at large observe and perceive their surroundings as clean. Experience has shown that areas which are kept clean, remain clean, and are easier to maintain, as the people themselves are slow to throw garbage casually on such clean streets and open areas. On the other hand, areas which have a lot of garbage strewn, are generally considered by the people at large, as dirty, and they do not think twice before throwing their own garbage in the already dirty place. It is, therefore, essential that the existing garbage lying in the ULBs is collected and removed on a war footing. If such an exercise is undertaken, the citizens would also develop a sense of ownership and pride in their towns and cities, and would make an endeavour to keep it clean.
21. We direct the State to ensure compliance of this direction, and the exercise for collection of the garbage, which is lying strewn in all the ULBs, should be undertaken on a war footing. Status in this regard should be reported, in the next status report filed by the Director, Urban Development Department.
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22. An affidavit has also been filed by Mr. Anand Swaroop, Director, Panchayati Raj, Government of Uttarakhand. He has disclosed that under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, funds have been allocated by the State for establishment of compactors for plastic waste compaction for each of the 95 blocks in the State. 74 compactors have been procured, and are in the process of being operational at the block level. Unfortunately, the affidavit is silent about the timeline, within which, the said compactors would be operational. It is further stated that the remaining 21 compactors are scheduled to be delivered by 30.06.2023. Whenever affidavits are filed, we expect the authorities to clearly indicate the timeline, and not to leave it vague, as it serves no purpose.
23. Mr. Rawat, on instructions from Mr. Manoj Tiwari, Deputy Director, Panchayati Raj, states that 07 of the compactors installed at the block level, have already been operational, and the remaining would be operational within two months.
24. It is further disclosed that, as on date, 5537 Gram Panchayats, out of 7795 Gram Panchayats, have the mechanism for transportation of plastic waste to the compaction centre facility. The remaining 2258 Gram Panchayats would have the facility for transportation of 11 plastic waste 'expeditiously'. Once again, the affidavit is vague, and it should have indicated definite timeline.
25. Mr. Rab, who appears virtually on behalf of the Director, Panchayati Raj, states that the remaining 2258 Gram Panchayats would also have the mechanism for transportation of plastic waste to the compaction centre facility, by 30.06.2023.
26. We take the above statement on record, and the Director, Panchayati Raj, shall remain bound by the same.
27. At this stage, we may notice our order dated 24.04.2023, passed in Writ Petition (PIL) No.58 of 2023. That writ petition had been preferred to raise the grievance with regard to the policy adopted by the State for supply of country-made liquor in paper based cartons only. We were concerned with the extent of solid waste, the adoption of such policy, would generate. We were informed on behalf of the State that the mechanism adopted by the State for management of solid waste along the pilgrimage route to Kedarnath, i.e. fixation of QR Code on the packaged water bottles, could be adopted in respect of the paper-based cartons in which country-made liquor would be supplied.
28. We applauded the State for adopting such a scheme, and we had expressed our view that there is no reason why the same should not be implemented in respect 12 of all other non-biodegradable packaging in which goods are sold in the State. Paper-based cartons, plastic bottles and plastic pouches are very commonly used for selling items, particularly food items, and the respondents should examine the feasibility of implementing the said Scheme in respect of all such packaging. We had directed that the said order dated 24.04.2023 be placed on record of the present writ petition.
29. Mr. Mainali has tendered in Court a supplementary affidavit. With this affidavit, he has placed on record a brochure issued by the Recykal- the company which has been engaged in evolving the digital deposit refund system. In the brochure, the said company has stated as follows:-
"To manage the problem of plastic littering on the Kedarnath pilgrimage trek, the Rudraprayag District Administration, Uttarakhan, implemented a unique Digital Deposit Refund System (Digital DRS). Under this initiative, the District Administration signed an MOU in May 2022 with Recykal, a tech disruptor accelerating circularity in India. With the help of the local district administration, Recykal was able to distribute & ensure the usage of unique QR coded stickers to all shops enroute the Kedarnath trek. The shop vendors pasted these QR- coded stickers onto consumer goods packaged in plastic. Tourists/ Citizens paid a deposit amount (Rs.10) while purchasing products with plastic packaging and got a refund via cash or UPI on responsibly- returning the plastic bottle at one of the many Deposit Refund Centres that were placed strategically on the 50 km stretch of the Kedarnath shrine".
30. In the affidavit filed by Mr. Pande, Director, Urban Development Department, he has stated that the said Deposit Refund System was initiated by the District Administration of 13 Rudraprayag in the Kedarnath shrine area. A deposit fee is levied on all kinds of plastic bottles, tetra packs, i.e. paper based cartons, which are entering the area of Kedarnath shrine. This deposit fee is over and above the Maximum Retail Price and is refunded immediately upon return of the empty bottle/ packaging material at the designated centres. This had reduced littering by pilgrims along the walking tracks, as now there is an incentive to return these empty bottles. Of the approximately 1.6 lakhs QR codes, which were issued last year, over 1.00 lakh codes were returned.
31. In the affidavit Mr. Pande further states that due to the success of the project in the last Yatra season, this year the project had been extended to include multi layer plastic and other items as well. The local shopkeepers have also been made stake holders in this process, by giving them as additional incentive of one rupee per item for serving as collection points.
32. At this stage, we may observe that under the present system, it is left to the shopkeepers to affix the QR codes on the packaged goods in plastic. Ideally speaking, such QR codes should be affixed by the manufacturer, who packages his goods in plastic packaging, so that there is full compliance of the Scheme.
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33. Mr. Rawat has explained that, firstly, the shopkeepers are required to purchase the QR codes, and unless they affix the same on the plastic packaged goods, they will not be able to recover their investment. Moreover, there is an incentive of one rupee on return of plastic packaging, and therefore, they are more likely to affix the QR code on the plastic packaged goods.
34. In Paragraph No.17 of the same affidavit, Mr. Pande states that the SOP of the successful efforts made in District Rudraprayag had been circulated amongst all ULBs with instructions to take up the project. Already District Administration of Uttarkashi is replicating the project in the Gangotri/ Yamunotri areas.
35. In response to our query, Mr. Pande states that the said project has yet not been implemented in Badrinath area.
36. The State should seriously endeavour to implement the same along the route to Badrinath.
37. It is further disclosed that similarly MoU has been entered into by the District Administration Nainital.
38. In the next status report, the Director, Urban Development Department, should indicate further progress made in this regard.
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39. The adoption of the scheme, aforesaid, i.e. deposit refund system is presently being undertaken only in 102 ULBs in the State. In areas falling outside the ULBs, the scheme is not being implemented.
40. In our view, for an effective and complete implementation of the scheme/ system, it is necessary that the entire State should be covered by the deposit refund system. We say this, because it could well be that a person- who buys an article in plastic packaging falling within the ULB area, travels outside the said ULB, and after consuming the packaged material/ goods, disposes of the used plastic packaged outside the ULB area. Unless the system is adopted throughout the State, it would remain less effective.
41. We may notice that, in the affidavit filed by Mr. Anand Swaroop, he has not adverted to this aspect of the matter at all. We direct the Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand, to personally look into this issue, so that the said system is implemented throughout the State, and is not confined only to the ULBs. Progress made in this regard should be indicated in the next status report.
42. In our order dated 24.04.2023, passed in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 58 of 2023, we had also put the State to notice that we would be dealing with the aspect of introduction of biometric attendance of all Safai Karmcharis 16 employed by ULBs, Panchayats etc. in the State to ensure that they are actually working on the ground, and are not mere ghost employees.
43. In the affidavit filed by Mr. Pande, he has stated that instructions for ensuring biometric attendance were issued as early as on 15.07.2017. However, due to the advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the practice of biometric attendance had to be discontinued. Post COVID instructions had been issued to ensure biometric attendance on 06.05.2023 by the Urban Development Directorate. It is further stated that to weed out the ghost employees, if any, all the ULBs have been asked to carry out the physical verification exercise to all sanitation workers, whether regular or contractual. It is stated that all the ULBs shall undertaken this exercise in 15 days, and furnish a certificate to the same effect, and that the ULBs shall ensure increase in the number of biometric machines along with installation of GPS monitoring system in the vehicles associated with sanitation activities. The respondents shall remain bound by this representation.
44. The next status report to be filed by the Director, Urban Development Department, should indicate further progress made in this regard. It should be ensured that there are no Safai Karamcharis, engaged in any ULBs, whose attendance is not marked in the biometric machine. 17
45. So far as the affidavit of Mr. Anand Swaroop, Director Panchayati Raj, is concerned, he stated that he had directed all the District Panchayat Raj Officers and Apar Mukhya Adhikaris to take all measures to ensure compliance of our orders in letter and spirit. Report has been received from the Zila Panchayats with regard to installation of biometric attendance system for the activities undertaken by the Zila Panchayats. The same has been reproduced in a tabular form here-in-below:-
Status of Biometric attendance in rural markets and pilgrimage routes by Zila Panchayats S. No. District Status of Biometric Machine for attendance 1 Pithoragarh In Process 2 Bageshwar Yes 3 Champawat In Process 4 Almora Biometric attendance after appointment of sanitation workers 5 Nainital Contractor has been instructed for ensuring biometric attendance 6 U.S. Nagar Biometric attendance after appointment of sanitation workers 7 Haridwar Arrangements for biometric attendance are being made at the Common Waste Plastic Recycling Facility.
8 Dehradun Contractor has been instructed for ensuring biometric attendance 9 Chamoli In Process 10 Pauri Garhwal In Process 11 Tehri Garhwal In Process 12 Uttarkashi Contractor has been instructed for ensuring biometric attendance 13 Rudraprayag In Process 18
46. The aforesaid tabulation would show that only in District Bageshwar, the biometric attendance machine has been installed, and is working. In all other districts, it is in the process of being installed by the contractors, to whom the works have been outsourced. They have been instructed to install biometric attendance machine.
47. We are not satisfied with the said affidavit. Once again we find that the Director, Panchayati Raj has not indicated any definite dates in his affidavit. We direct him to file a better affidavit, indicating the exact date by when the biometric attendance machine shall be introduced in all the Panchayats. The State should ensure that there is no dearth of funds for procuring the biometric attendance machines, for being supplied to all the Gram Panchayats.
48. Mr. Mainali has pointed out two relevant aspects to us. Firstly, he submits us that the National Green Tribunal, vide its order dated 11.05.2023, on the issue of Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other environmental issues, in relation to the State of Uttarakhand, has imposed a find of Rs.200 Crores on the State. Paragraph Nos.59 to 61 of the said order read as follows:-
"59. In view of above, considering the statement the gap in sewage generation and treatment about (60 MLD) and gap in solid waste (252.65 TPD of unprocessed waste and 15.75 lakh MT of 19 legacy waste), estimated environmental compensation comes to about Rs. 200 Crores. The environmental compensation rests on polluter pays principle recognizing failure in scientifically managing the liquid and solid waste in violation of mandate of law particularly judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and this Tribunal.
60. The Chief Secretary has given understanding that the amount of Rs. 200 crores, readily available with the State, will be ringfenced for utilizing exclusively for sewage and solid waste management.
61. In view of above, we accept the prayer of the Chief Secretary that instead of this Tribunal levying compensation, the Administration itself will ensure availability of Rs. 200 crores by transferring the amount in a separate ring-fenced account within one month to be operated as per directions of the Chief Secretary. Chief Secretary may review progress of work atleast once a month as already directed and by District Magistrates at district level and reporting to Chief Secretary."
49. Mr. Mainali further points out that the gap between the solid waste management generated and processed in the State is enormous, i.e. 310.23 tonnes per day.
50. Mr. Mainali has also drawn our attention to a report on the issue "On ground evaluation of the issue of colossal environmental degradation in the prominent pilgrim track regions of Uttarakhand". This report was prepared by the MoEF & CC, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, CPCB, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, UKPCB, Dehradun, Uttarakhand and G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Almora, Uttarakhand, and submitted to the National Green Tribunal in terms of the order dated 12.08.2022 in O.A. No.561 of 2022. He has also drawn our attention to Paragraph No.3.3.1, which 20 deals with the Solid Waste and Plastic Waste Management along the Yamunotri track, Uttarakhand. The said Committee, inter alia, has reported, as follows:-
"3.3.1 Solid Waste and Plastic Waste Management"
i. Zila Panchayat Uttarkashi (hereafter referred as "agency") is authorized agency for management of solid and plastic waste in entire track.
ii. The Yamunotri track was allegedly cleaned by sixty (60) sweepers. However, during the inspection, it was observed that the tracks had not been cleaned. Dungs, solid waste, and plastic waste were either on or in the track valley leading to the Yamunotri River.
iii. Janki Chatti has no waste processing plant for the treatment of solid and plastic waste generated by track. According to reports, solid waste and plastic waste are collected and disposed off in Nagar Palika trenching grounds, in violation of the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 as modified.
iv. The agency has installed compactor for plastic waste, but it wasn't operational.
v. During visit, very poor management of solid/ plastic waste was observed. Agency has not provided proper collection, transportation and disposal system for solid and plastic waste.
vi. The quantity of non-biodegradable waste collected (Gangotri and Yamunotri) by the agency from 2019 to 2022 is presented in Table 6.
Table 6. Amount of non-biodegradable waste
collected (Gangotri and Yamunotri)
Year 2019 2020 2021 2022
Quantity 70 Nil Nil 100
(in Kg)
vii. During the inspection, plastic waste, solid waste, and horse dung were observed close to the track and in the valley next to the track.
viii. During the visit, the soak pit toilet system that was installed in some locations was found to be full of waste and some toilets were found to be dysfunctional. 21 ix. It was observed during the visit that the public toilets appeared insufficient for pilgrims.
x. It is also informed that during May to July of every year, crowd escalates higher number as compared to other months. Possibility of very poor situation with respect of solid/ plastic waste management as well as track cleaning cannot be ruled out during peak time.
xi. The graph indicating number of registered people visit during Yamunotri and Gangotri yatra from 2019 to 2022 is depicted below in fig 8.
Fig. 8 Number of Pilgrims visited at Yamunotri and Gangotri xii. It is evident from above graph that 4,85,688 pilgrims visited in 2022 as compared to 9,96,796 pilgrims in year 2019.
xiii. During visit, there was no solid waste/ equine dung collection pit and plastic waste management system was development in Yamunotri Track.
xiv. Government of Uttarakhand has restricted number of pilgrims to 5000 per day. But, during interaction with local people, number exceeded during May to July of every year."
51. He has also referred to the recommendations made by the Committee. We may, in particular, notice the following extract from the concluding remarks and recommendations, which reads as follows:-
"Concluding Remarks and Recommendations:
It is evident from the above observation that solid and plastic waste management is very poor in the pilgrim tracks, viz. Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Hemkund Saheb. However, Gangotri- Gomukh trek has moderate level of management for solid waste 22 which need to be strengthened. On the track, there was solid and plastic waste as well as mules/ equines dung. No proper collection, transportation and disposal system for solid waste, plastic waste and dung was observed. Waste is swept to the side of the track by sweepers working to clean the tracks. The shelter/ ghodapadav was found to be in extremely poor condition. In comparison to registered mules/ equines, there are fewer and smaller shelters. All four pilgrim tracks have a dung heap at the shelter place. Disposal mechanism of dead body of mules/ equines is not defined. Hence, Zila Panchayat, Chamoli, Rudrprayag and Uttarkashi may be directed to comply with following recommendations:
a. ............
b. The agency shall collect all solid and plastic waste, and site-specific mechanisms for its collection and transportation should be devised.
c. The agency needs to setup a solid waste processing plant. All solid waste should be properly treated/ disposed off as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. d. Plastic waste should be collected and disposed off through registered recyclers.
e. The agency should provide adequate space at ghodapadav/ shelter. Dung generated from shelter and track should be cleaned at regular interval and disposed off as per the Solid Waste Management Rule, 2016. Dung at track should b cleaned at regular interval and immediately send to treatment area.
f. Agency should ensure proper treatment of liquid waste generated from mules/ equines.
g. The State Government or Agency should provide a team of veterinarians to every pilgrimage site to ensure adequate care of mules and horses and to prevent animal abuse. h. A system should be established to make sure that the post-mortem and verification of insured deceased mules doesn't take too long, and that they are disposed of in accordance with CPCB guidelines.
i. Regular surveillance is required to ensure compliance with the above recommendations as well as proper enforcement of the Solid Waste Management, 2016 and the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, as amended".23
52. We direct the State to take notice of the aforesaid aspects pointed out by Mr. Mainali, and to take remedial steps on the aspects pointed out by the Committee aforesaid. On the next date, the State should clearly disclose what steps have been taken to remedy the situation noticed here-in- above. A point by point response should be filed by the respondents.
53. Lastly, Mr. Mainali has drawn our attention to the order issued by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, on 06.02.2023 to all the States and Union Territories. This communication has been issued on the subject of 'Use of plastic waste in bituminous mix in the construction of Service Roads and slip road along National Highways'. The communication, insofar, as it is relevant reads as follows:-
"Ministry of Road Transport & Highways vide referred circulars issued the guidelines to encourage the use of plastic waste in the hot mix bituminous wearing coat/ periodic renewal. It was made mandatory to follow the said guidelines for laying of wearing coat on Service Roads along National Highways within 50 kms peripher of urban area having population more than 5 lakhs.
2. In continuation of this, it has now been decided that use of plastic waste is mandatory in the wearing coat of Service Roads and Slip Roads throughout National Highways apart from in periodical renewal coat of main carriageway on National Highways within 50 kms periphery of urban area having population more than 5 lakhs.
3. The contents of this circular shall be made applicable for all such NH and centrally sponsored road works for which bids are yet to be received."24
54. The State should report compliance of the aforesaid direction in the next affidavit.
55. The State should also issue directions to the local police authorities to check and ensure compliance of the requirement that all taxis and hired vehicles in the State should provide dust bags in their vehicles.
56. List on 28.07.2023.
(VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.) (MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI, J.) Dated: 19th May, 2023 NISHANT