Gujarat High Court
Parishad Khadi Gramudhyog Sangh ... vs State Of Gujarat & 1....Opponent(S) on 17 September, 2014
Author: J.B.Pardiwala
Bench: Akil Kureshi, J.B.Pardiwala
C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 150 of 2011
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PARISHAD KHADI GRAMUDHYOG SANGH THROUGH CHIARMAN
GULABHAI....Applicant(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 1....Opponent(s)
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Appearance:
MR.J S.SADHWANI, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR VANDAN K BAXI, AGP for the Opponent(s) No. 1
MRS VD NANAVATI, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 2
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA
Date : 17/09/2014
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA)
1. By this writ application in the nature of a public interest litigation, the petitioner, a public trust, registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, has prayed for a mandamus upon the respondents to frame a policy for disposal of the carcasses of dead animals, as provided for under the provisions of the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act and to take further steps for the work in that regard including the functioning of the Carcass Utilisation unit of the petitioner trust.
2. Case of the petitioner in brief is that there is no policy or Page 1 of 8 C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER any proper procedure in dealing with the issue of carcasses. Although section 309 of the BPMC Act provides for some mechanism, as regards the removal of carcasses of the dead animals, yet the illegal activities in that regard are going on in the open market in collusion with the officials of the Corporation.
3. On notice being issued, the respondents have appeared. On behalf of the respondent no.2, an affidavitinreply has been filed duly sworn by the Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Health and Solid Waste. The first and the foremost objection raised by the Corporation in their reply is as regards the bonafide of the petitioner in filing this public interest petition. According to the Corporation, the petitioners were awarded the contract for disposal of carcasses of the dead animals and the disposal of waste from the fish market and meat market for a period of 10 years vide resolution dated 21.10.1991 passed by the Standing Committee. The work was commenced by the petitioner trust from 27.9.1995. The trust was alloted 15 acres of land near the Gyaspur village for the said purpose. After sometime the Corporation noticed various irregularities in the functioning of the trust. The irregularities have been highlighted in the affidavit in reply. The same are as under :
"5(a) That the petitioner did not comply with the terms of contract and stopped the work of contract for small animals and carried out the work for disposing of carcasses of big animals like cow, buffalos, camels etc.
b) That the execution of contract was not in accordance with the terms of contract and in fact, the petitioner shown Page 2 of 8 C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER carelessness and negligence. It appears that the petitioner used Government loan for its own purpose and never utilized the same for the purpose of Corporation.
c) That the petitioner was required to be paid Rs.7,31,640/ per year by three equal installments. The petitioner did not provide any vehicle for the collection of carcasses from the various areas on the contract and did not provide vehicle along with the employees for the disposal of dead animals and waste from fish market, meat market and slaughter house.
d) The complaints were received from the Collector & Gyaspur Gram Panchayat for nonfunctioning of the plant which was also found unattended. Gyaspur Dump became unhygenic and nearby environment highly contaminated.
Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureA is a copy of the said communications.
e) The petitioner did not submit its progress report and utilization certificate and therefore the Government of India time and again made inquiry from the Municipal Corporation regarding the progress of work and submission of utilization certificate to the Government of India. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexureb is a copy of the said communication.
f) The petitioner did not run the plant for which it was meant and dispose of the carcasses at different places on open land.
g) The petitioner did not attend the complaints and created health hazards in the town.
h) The petitioner did not maintain the plants and machineries at the disposal site and committed breach of contract.
Page 3 of 8C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER i) The Government of India introduced a scheme to
clear carcasses by project utilization centre and Hide Flying Unit Project under which all the States were required to make necessary arrangements for disposal of dead animals. The Government of India released the grant for the project and the local authorities were required to allot certain lands for the project. The complaints were also received from the office of Collector that the petitioner did not comply with the contract for disposal of dead animals and carcasses from the city of Ahmedabad and did not dispose of the same at Gyaspur village and that it disposed of the same in open spaces where the residents faced severe health problems. The Corporation has issued several notices to the petitioner for compliance but with great surprise, no progress of the project happened. Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureC is a copy of the said notices. The Corporation also informed (1) the Department of Urban Development & Urban Housing, Government of Gujarat (2) The Department of Animal, Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India and (3) The Director, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of Gujarat for the negligence and non working of the plant. Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureD is a copy of the said communication.
4. The reply further reveals that the trust stopped working from 17.4.2000. The Standing Committee considered many aspects of the matter and ultimately, terminated the contract by a communication dated 30.10.2000. In short, it appears that the trust was blacklisted.
5. It further appears that after the contract was terminated, the trust instituted a Civil Suit No.767/2006 for a declaration and damages.
Page 4 of 8C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER
6. These are the aspects highlighted by the Corporation in their reply so far as the role of the trust is concerned.
7. In the reply, the Corporation has further explained the entire mechanism with them so far as lifting carcasses of dead animals in the city of Ahmedabad is concerned. The same has been explained stating as under :
13. Lifting of dead animals in Ahmedabad City area is done by AMC. All dead animals collected from the city are disposed off at carcass dump site at Gyaspur. AMC has 2 dedicated vehicles for 16 hours a day to address carcass lifting requests. There are 10 persons deputed on each vehicle. AMC takes request at its control room based at Behrampura office, all 365 days, Working Time : 7 a.m. To 11 pm, with the help of total 60 employees. It is ensured that such requests are being addressed by AMC within 12 hours. Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureM is a copy of the said statement showing the lifting of the carcasses.
Data for lifting, transporting and final disposal of dead animals :
Year Small Size Large Size Dead Total Dead Dead animals Animals Animals 2007-08 8482 1321 9803 2008-09 6768 732 7500 2009-10 5220 1245 6465 2010-11 6299 1618 7917 1 April to 30th 4949 1887 6836 Nov, 2011 The Corporation has also received a proposal on public private partnership mode for energy generation from carcass waste.Page 5 of 8
C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER "Growdiesel has pioneered a technology platform (titled WTG2XG) designed to develop a unique Biocatalysis technology that treats Slaughterhouse Waste/Fish Market Waste/Dead Animals & all types of organic waste and safely eliminate them without producing any smell or toxic fumes or liquid or solid discharge. This innovative feedstockflexible technology platform helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to a greener economy. This technology shall allow effective management of all kinds of Slaughterhouse Waste/ Fish market Waste/ Dead Animals & all types of organic waste and produce biofuels as byproduct. WTG2XG process consists of processing the waste material so that the chemical bonds break and the feedstock converts to the individual constituents that make up the material. This process breaks the bonds so that the other elements may be separated from the hydrocarbons, molecules and breaks the large chains of hydrocarbons from the wast into smaller chains of molecules that make fuel/oil. In the process, the harmful microbes, bacteria and viruses are safely eliminated." Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureN is a copy of the offer received from Growdiesel Ventures, New Delhi.
14. It appears that, at the instance of the petitioner, the reports were carried out in the newspaper which petitioner has produced before this Hon'ble Court. The newspaper reports are hearsay evidence and need not be relied upon before this Hon'ble Court. It is submitted that on behalf of the Corporation the newspaper items published in Sandesh were refuted forthwith by the Municipal Corporation by letter dated 06.08.2011 for newspaper publication in the daily newspaper Sandesh dated 04.08.2011. Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureO is a copy of the said letter of refutation. The newspaper items published on 15.10.2011 in Sandesh was again refuted by the Corporation by its letter dated 15.10.2011. Annexed hereto Page 6 of 8 C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER and marked as AnnexureP is a copy of the said letter of refutation. The newspaper publication dated 16.10.2011 was refuted forthwith by communication dated 18.10.2011.
Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureQ is a copy of the said letter of refutation.
15. In view of these allegations, the Assistant Municipal Commissioner personally visited the site and now provided security guard for 24 hours and directed that there should be one Sanitary Sub Inspector for daily supervision 9round the clock) and Dy. City Engineer (Solid Waste Dept.) again shall supervise the site and issue certificate about proper working of carcasses disposal. At present, the Municipal staff is employed for disposal of carcasses at the site by using JCB Machine and Chemicals. Annexed hereto and marked as AnnexureR is a copy of photos."
8. It may not be out of place to state that by way of a further reply filed by the Corporation, it has been brought to our notice that the Corporation by way of a public notice issued an advertisement in the local newspapers dated 18.3.2012 and 19.3.2012 respectively under the heading "Expression of Interest for Design, Construction, Operation & Maintenance of a daily 10 to 15 tones processing plant for safe disposal of carcasses etc., on public private partnership mode". The Corporation has also requested All India Institute of Local Self Government to undertake the work of preparation of the Solid Waste Management Bye laws in accordance with MSW Rules 2000 for Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
9. Thus from the materials on record, the first and foremost question that falls for our consideration is, whether this petition could at all be treated as a public interest Page 7 of 8 C/WPPIL/150/2011 ORDER litigation. The answer has to be obviously in the negative. The trust itself had entered into a contract with the Corporation so far as removing of the carcasses is concerned. They committed breach of various conditions. Their contract ultimately had to be terminated by the Corporation. The termination of the agreement resulted in filing of the Civil Suit. In such circumstances, it could be easily stated that the trust itself is interested in this matter and more or less is complaining about the termination of the agreement at the end of the Corporation. We have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that this petition cannot be treated as a public interest litigation.
10. In any view of the matter, the Corporation has explained in detail as to how the carcasses of dead animals are disposed of. From the materials on record, it appears that thousands of dead animals, various in size, are being disposed of in accordance with the rules. It also appears, as stated above, that the Corporation has also invited tenders from persons interested to undertake the operation of safe disposal of carcasses to the extent of 10 to 15 tones on daily basis.
11. For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any merits in this application. Same is accordingly rejected. No costs.
(AKIL KURESHI, J.) (J.B.PARDIWALA, J.) raghu Page 8 of 8