Himachal Pradesh High Court
Suleman vs Union Of India & Others on 27 July, 2023
Bench: Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Satyen Vaidya
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
CWP No. 2369 of 2018 a/w CWP No. 1074 of
2019, CWPIL Nos. 32 & 42 of 2021, CWP No. 3334
of 2021 and CWPIL No. 4 of 2022 and CWP No.
3511 of 2022.
.
Reserved on: 22.7.2023
Date of decision : 27.7.2023.
1. CWP No. 2369 of 2018
Suleman ...Petitioner.
Versus
Union of India & others ...Respondents
2. CWP No. 1074 of 2019
Subhash Chand ...Petitioner
Versus
State of H.P. & others ...Respondents.
3. CWPIL No. 32 of 2021
Court on its own motion ...Petitioner
Versus
State of H.P. & others ...Respondents.
4. CWPIL No. 42 of 2021
Court on its own motion ...Petitioner
Versus
Member Secretary H.P. State Environment Protection
And Pollution Control Board & others. ....Respondents
5. CWP No. 3334 of 2021
Saligram Attri ....Petitioner
Versus
Union of India & others ...Respondents
6. CWPIL No. 4 of 2022
Vijay Kumar & others ...Petitioners
Versus
State of H.P. & others ....Respondents.
7. CWP No. 3511 of 2022
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Avinash Chander ...Petitioner
Versus
State of H.P. & others ....Respondents.
.
Coram:
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge.
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Satyen Vaidya, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1
Present : Mr. Naresh Verma, Advocate, vice Mr.
Rajnish Maniktala, Sr. Advocate, as
Amicus Curiae.
Mr. D. K. Khanna and Mr. Deven Khana,
r Advocates, for the petitioner.
Mr. Balram Sharma, Deputy solicitor
General of India, for respondent No.1.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
Mr. T. S. Chauhan, and Mr. Maan singh,
Advocates, for respondent No.3.
Mr. Jagdish Thakur, Advocate, for
respondent No.5.
Mr. K.B. Khajuria, Advocate, for
respondent No.6.
Mr. Rajesh Kashyap, Advocate, for M.C.
Dalhousie and M.C. Sundernagar.
Mr. Ajay Kumar Chauhan, Advocate, for
M.C. Palampur.
1
Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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Mr. Mukul Sood, Advocate, for M.C.
Dharmshala.
.
Mr. Naveen Bhardwaj, Advocate, for M.C.
Kullu, Manali and Nagar Panchayat,
Bhuntar, District Kullu, H.P.
Mr. Chandan Kumar Singh, Executive
Engineer, H.P. Pollution Control Board
and Mr. Rajinder Chauhan, Project
Officer, Directorate of Urban
Development.
CWP No. 1074 of 2019
Mr. Bhuvnesh Sharma, Sr. Advocate
with Mr. Parav Sharma, Advocate, for the
petitioner.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
Mr. K.S. Banyal, Sr. Advocate with Mr.
Uday Singh banyal, Advocate, for
respondent No.3.
Mr. T.S. Chauhan, and Mr. Maan Singh,
Advocates, for respondent No.5.
Mr. Shyam Singh Chauhan, Advocate,
for respondent-HRTC.
CWPIL No. 32 of 2021
Mr. Neeraj Kumar Shashwat, Advocate,
as Amicus Curiae.
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Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
.
respondents/State.
Mr. Virbahadur Verma, Advocate, for
respondent No.2.
Dr. Lalit K. Sharma, Advocate, for
respondent No.4.
CWPIL No. 42 of 2021
Court on its own motion.
Mr. Mohan Sharma, Advocate, for the
interveners.
Mr. Virbahadur Verma, Advocate, for
respondent No.1.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
CWP No. 3334 of 2021
Mr. Saurav Rattan, Advocate, for the
petitioner.
Mr. Balram Sharma, Deputy Solicitor
General of India, for respondent No.1.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
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CWPIL No. 4 of 2022
Mr. Adarsh K. Vashista, Advocate, for the
petitioner.
.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
Mr. Sunil Mohan Goel, Advocate, for
respondent No.5.
r to
CWP No. 3511 of 2022
Mr. K. B. Khajuria, Advocate, for the
petitioner.
Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with
Mr. Ramakant Sharma & Ms. Sharmila
Patial, Addl. A.Gs. and Mr. Rajat
Chauhan, Law Officer, for the
respondents/State.
Mr. Virbahadur Verma, Advocate, for
respondent No.3.
Ms. Divya Sood, Advocate, for
respondent No.4.
Satyen Vaidya, Judge:
On 26.12.2022, this Court after having taken detailed note of the relevant material before it, had issued the directions as under:-
"Looking into the seriousness of these issues, let fresh status report(s) be filed by all the respondents through ::: Downloaded on - 27/07/2023 20:40:34 :::CIS -6- their respective Project Officers on or before the next date of hearing. The Project Officer(s) of all the respondents is directed to coordinate with all the respondents and .
thereafter file a collective affidavit touching upon all the issues as have been noticed in this order."
2. On 6.4.2023, it was further noticed that not only the citizens but even the municipal bodies were dumping waste in rivers, streams, rivulets etc. It was observed that such practice needs to be stopped forthwith and directions were issued accordingly.
3. Another issue regarding door to door collection of garbage in various towns of Himachal Pradesh, including Shimla was also considered. It was further directed that solid and wet waste would be collected separately after segregation and thereafter transported separately by engaging specified vehicles or compartmentalized vehicles for said purpose. It was also directed that door to door garbage would be collected at least thrice a week at such place where it was not being collected on daily basis.
4. On 23.5.2023, this Court had passed the following order:-
"It has been repeatedly noticed by the Court that the State Pollution Control Board, except show cause notices issued ::: Downloaded on - 27/07/2023 20:40:34 :::CIS -7- under the various statutes of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, has failed to take any coercive action against the erring authorities/individuals. It is high time that the .
Pollution Control Board takes some stern action, so as to ensure that the menace of violation of the environmental laws is curbed. Let suggestions in this regard be filed on or before the next date of hearing."
5. In compliance to aforesaid orders, various units of HPPCB have filed their separate status reports. In addition, various urban local bodies have also filed their respective status reports/compliance affidavits.
6. We have gone through the compliance reports and affidavits, as noticed above. We have also heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Advocate General and learned Deputy Solicitor General of India.
7. Perusal of contents of compliance affidavits and status reports filed on behalf of HPPCD and urban local bodies do not reveal due compliance of the orders and directions passed by this Court from time to time. Not only this, the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules and Plastic Waste Management Rules in particular and Environment Protection Act in general appear to have been violated with impunity.
::: Downloaded on - 27/07/2023 20:40:34 :::CIS -8-8. Various suggestions were made on behalf of the petitioners in respect of need for effective complaint .
mechanism, cleaning the streams and visible hill sides, inadequacy of prescribed penalties/fines, inadequacy of dumping/land-filled sites, need for effective implementation of Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) etc.
9. During the course of hearing of the matter, learned Advocate General suggested the need for immediate inspection of the facilities available with the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State, their use, effects and deficiencies, which will go a long way in assisting this Court in passing effective and purposeful directions in public interest. Learned Advocate General volunteered to supply a list of volunteers for such purpose and assured that the needful will be done within four weeks and matter will be reported to this Court.
10. Learned counsel for the petitioners as well as learned Deputy Solicitor General of India along with other stake holders present in the Court welcomed the suggestion made by learned Advocate General. Keeping in view the issues of prime public interest involved herein, we do not see any reason in ::: Downloaded on - 27/07/2023 20:40:34 :::CIS -9- disallowing such inspection to be carried by the volunteers, as suggested by learned Advocate General.
.
11. Learned Advocate General has provided a list of volunteers, which will undertake the exercise of inspection, as envisaged by learned Advocate General, which is as under:-
Sr. District Name of Volunteers No.
1. Kangra Mr. Naresh Kaul, Mr. Mukul Sood, Mr. Goldy and Mr. Sanjay Jaswal.
2. Hamirpur Mr. Vinod Thakur, Sunny Dhatwalia and Mr. Tarun K. Sharma.3.
r Bilaspur Mr. Mohit Thakur and Mr. Malay Kaushal.
4. Una Mr. Balram Sharma, Mr. Sunny Modgil & Mr. Dheeraj Vashishat.
5. Sirmour Mr. Ashok K. Tyagi, & Mr. Jyotirmay Bhatt.
6. Kullu Mr. Maan Singh.
7. Shimla Mr. Devanand Sharma, Ms. Aruna Chauhan, MR. Dalip Kaith, Mr. Dugra Singh Kainthla, Mr. Yashveer Singh Rathore.
8. Solan Mr. Pratap Singh Goverdhan, Mr. Anirudh Sharma & Mr. Aditya Kaushal.
9. Mandi Mr. Neel Kamal Sharma, Mr. Vinod Thakur, Mr. Anil Chaudhary & Mr. Varun Rana.
10. Chamba Mr. Sat Parkash & Mr. Nimish Gupta.
11. Bharyal Mr. Kush Sharma.
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12. In view of the above development, we adjourn the hearing of the matter to 11.9.2023 to enable the above listed .
volunteers to complete the entire exercise of inspection of respective local bodies vis-à-vis the facilities for solid waste and plastic waste management, scientific disposal of the waste, proper segregation, pollution of water streams, rivers, rivulets or any other water bodies, as also the process of implementation of the provisions of Environment Protection Act and relevant rules framed thereunder.
r Reports prepared by the volunteers be positively placed on file of this case at least one week prior to the date of hearing.
List on 11.9.2023.
(Tarlok Singh Chauhan) Judge.
(Satyen Vaidya)
27th July, 2023 Judge
(kck)
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