National Green Tribunal
K M Sanjeev Vijayan vs State Of Kerala on 7 October, 2021
Author: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Item No. 08 (Court No. 1)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
(By Video Conferencing)
Original Application No. 147/2020
(With report dated 06.08.2021)
K. M. Sanjeev Vijayan Applicant
Versus
State of Kerala Respondent
Date of hearing: 07.10.2021
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BRIJESH SETHI, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. NAGIN NANDA, EXPERT MEMBER
Respondent: Mr. Alim Anvar, Advocate for the State of Kerala
Mr. Jogy Scaria, Advocate for KSPCB
ORDER
1. Grievance in this application is against unscientific dumping and burning of garbage at Panamanna Village in Ottapalam Municipality of Palakkad, Kerala and its two wards. The matter was considered on 27.11.2020 as follows:-
"1.xxx...................................xxx.......................................xxx
2. The above allegation needs to be looked into by the Ottapalam Municipality and the State PCB and action taken as per law. The nodal agency for coordination and compliance will be the State PCB.
3. A factual and action taken report giving all the details including status of quantity of waste generation, processed and the legacy waste may be furnished within one month by e-mail at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/ OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF."1
2. The matter was last considered on 16.04.2021 in the light of report of the State PCB in the light of inspection conducted on 18.12.2020 acknowledging serious continuing violations in managing the waste.
During inspection and on water quality study, it was found that the well water was contaminated. The report is reproduced below:
"The Board officials conducted inspection on 18.12.2020 after issuing notice to the Municipality. The applicant Sri. Sanjeev Vijayan was also heard during the inspection. The applicant pointed out several litter-spots on the side of the main road passing through the Municipality. Plastic carry bags containing solid waste, un- segregated with wet and dry waste materials were found dumped in and around these litter spots. The list of the litter spots visited is given below in Table 1.
S. No. Place
1. Ward 14
Near Mary Queen High Tech Laboratory
2. Kayarampara (Ward 22) Opp. Bharatha Store
3. Palappuram (Ward 23) Opp. Kerala State Housing Board Colony
4. Ward 7 Opp. Kottaram hotel
5. Ward 27 Opp. Nasha TVS The officials of the Municipality claimed that daily 3.5 km of road is swept and litter spots are cleared every day, but one of the litter spots was off the main road where there is no regular sweeping and lifting of waste. At such spots, un- segregated solid waste will remain for more than one day.
4. The processing plant of the Municipality at Panamanna was also inspected during the inspection. The observations are as follows:
There is no functional wet waste processing facility. The machinery for composting, segregation, etc. are not functional. The officials of the Municipality claim that wet waste is not collected and brought to the processing plant and that all generators have been provided source-level disposal facilities. But, wet waste mixed with dry waste reaches the processing plant from the road-sweepings of litter-spots. The Municipality officials also submitted that there is a proposal to erect and operate decentralized 2 composting plants (Thumboormoozhi model widely used successfully in the state of Kerala) which will take care of the wet solid waste.
Dry waste collected is segregated into recyclable and non- recyclable fractions manually. The plastic which can be shredded is shredded and the rest is bailed. The non- recyclable waste is also bailed. Both the recyclable and non- recyclable wastes are handed over to Clean Kerala Company, agency authorized by State Government to collect such waste from local bodies.
There is a legacy-waste dump adjacent to the processing plant. The Municipality has not done scientific quantification of the legacy waste yet. It is spread over an approximate area of 2 acres.
There is a seasonal drain flowing near the processing plant and legacy waste-site.
5. The Municipality submitted details of solid waste collection and management at the time of visit. The status of Solid Waste Management with quantities of waste generated, processed etc. from the records submitted by the Municipality as on Oct 2020 is also referred. Based on these the consolidated data on solid waste management is prepared and given in Table 2. The remarks of the Pollution Control Board against each item are also included in the table.
Table-2. Present status of Solid Waste Management S. No. Details Quantities / Remarks based on Status as reported site inspection by the Municipality
1. Population (2011) 53792 -
2. No. of words 36 -
3. No. of Households 12484 -
4. No. of Households Dry - 7200 -
having segregation at Wet-0
source
5. No. of Establishments Dry - 1020 -
having segregation at Wet-0
source
6. No. of vehicle used 2 -
7. No. having source of Households - 5400 -
level treatment of wet Establishments -
waste in operation 400
8. No. of existing Material 1
Collection Facility
9. Total solid waste Actual generation
1.4 tons may be on the
generation in the higher side. Given
Municipality per day quantity is based
on collection records
of the Municipality.
3
10. Total solid waste 1.2 1.4 tons Two truck loads
tons collected by the Approximately 1.2
Municipality per day tons received per day.
Collection procedures
have to be improved
11. Quantity of wet & dry Wet -- 0.5 ton Wet waste is
waste collected by the Dry -- 0.7 ton collected from
Municipality per day Street litteringwithout
segregation, quantity
of wet waste
approximately 0.2
tons only. Segregated
dry waste collected
via door-to-door
collection. Action
shall be initiated by
the Municipality to
eliminate littering of
waste completely.
Surveillance camera
/squad may be
engaged/employed.
12. No. of wards in which 36/36 Acceptable
door to door collection is
implemented.
13. Percentage of Households - 55% Has to be improved to
households and Establishments -- 100%
establishments covered 40%
in the door to door
collection.
14. Average quan tity of 1 ton The Quantity
wet waste composted reported is not
in the processing plant acceptable.
per day Presently wet
waste processing
is not functional.
Inadequate dumping
of approximately 0.2
tons occurs as found
in inspection. The
Municipality officials
also submitted that
there is a proposal to
erect and operate two
decentralized
composting.
(Thumboormoozhi
model widely used
successfully in the
state of Kerala) which
will take care of the
wet solid waste but it
is yet to be
commissioned.
15. Average quantity of dry 15.6 ton Has to be improved
waste disposed from the
MCF per month
16. Methods of disposal of Bailing and / or
dry waste Shredding done.
Recyclable, non -
recyclable and
E-wast handed over
to Clean
4
17. Estimated quantity of 4000 cubic meters No scientific
legacy waste estimation has been
done by the
Municipality.
Quantity should be
evaluated & shall be
biomined as per
guidelines by the
Municipality
6. The Pollution Control Board had issued a show-cause-notice to the Municipality on 22.9.2020 for their failure to prepare a detailed action plan with adequate source of fund for bio-mining and to biomine the legacy waste. A copy of the notice dated 22.09.2020 is produced herewith and marked as Annexure (At.
7. The Municipality had submitted a reply to the notice just stating that Rs.1 lakh has been ear-marked for biomining the legacy waste. The reply is unsatisfactory. No concrete action plan or scientific estimate of the legacy waste was submitted. Hence, incorporating the short comings found during the inspection also, a fresh notice was issued to the Municipality on 24.12.2020 stressing on the following points :
Total solid waste collected by the Municipality is approximately 1.2 tons a day only. Estimated solid waste generation from Ottapalam municipality is much more. Thele is a h1 g\ gap between the solid waste generation and solid waste collected.
The Municipality may include the solid waste disposed by scrap- collectors and other informal sectors. Still a huge gap exists which must be filled.
Wet waste is collected from street littering mixed with dry waste. It is dumped along with the legacy waste since wet-waste- processing is not functional in the processing plant. Wet waste must be processed in any scientific manner as per Rules. Door to Door collection of solid waste is not achieved 100%. As per the records submitted by the Municipality, the present status of Door to Door (D2D) collection of solid waste (Dry waste) is only 47.5% (including households & commercial establishments). Apart from this, wet waste is not collected from households & commercial establishments. D2D must be extended to 100% of waste generator units including collection of wet waste, for those who don't have source-level disposal facility During site inspection several spots were found in the Municipality where littering of solid waste were there. By increasing the D2D collection efficiency to 100% and by enforcing punitive action against those who burn or dump or litter waste, littering should be curtailed.
Rule 15 of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 is not complied. The timeline for achieving 100% D2D collection as per Rule 22 is already expired. The timeline for Bio-mining/Bio-remediation on legacy waste is about to expire in March 2021. A copy of the notice dated 24.12.2020 is produced herewith and marked as Annexure (B).
8. It is respectfully submitted that Pollution Control Board had sampled and analysed the surface water and ground water sources near the legacy-waste site periodically. The latest sampling was 5 conducted on 26.06.2020. The details of sampling are given in Table 3. S. Source Sample Address Latitude Longitude Approximate Remarks No of id distance from . water dumping site 1 Natural PAS 2820 Vattanal 10.785694 76.347165 Adjacent Used for drain Panamanna public use (bathing) 2 Open PAS 2821 Jaya 10.784896 76.348387 600m Used for well prakash domestic Pulikkal HO, purpose Aarankula other than Manissery drinking 3 Pond PAS 2822 Sankaranara 10.784275 76.348847 500m Used for yana domestic poovathpar purpose mbil South other than Panamanna drinking The result of the analysis is given below in Table - 4 Table 4 Water Quality Study around legacy waste dump site of Ottapalam Municipality at Panamanna Date of sampling 26.06.2020 Result Parameter Unit PAS2820 PAS2821 PAS 2823 1 pH 7.05 6.93 7.21 2 Total Mg/L 102 158 102 dissolved solids 3 Total Mg/L 56 72 52 hardness 4 Chlorides Mg/L 19.7 37.5 14.79 5 Nitrate as Mg/L 0.159 2.089 0.543 NO3 6 Iron as Fe Mg/L 0.46 0.28 0.46 7 Cadmium Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 8 Hexavalent Mg/L BDL BDL BDL chromium 9 Copper Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 10 Phenolic Mg/L BDL BDL BDL compounds 11 Nickel Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 12 Lead Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 13 Zind Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 14 Arsenic Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 15 Cynide Mg/L BDL BDL BDL 16 Total CFU/100 1750 1000 1500 coliform ml 17 Fecal CFU/100 950 500 750 coliform ml 6 The Analysis Report showed that presence of heavy metal is below the desirable limit in drinking water except zinc of small concentration. However the well water is found to be contaminated with presence of coliform. The dumpsite is far away from the wells and coliform including fecal coliform are not much expected from the dumpsite.
It is submitted that the grievances raised in the application are genuine. Door to door collection of solid waste is not done in a fraction of the households and establishments leading to littering and burning of waste by citizens. But it is also stated that door to door collection has commenced recently in the Panamanna ward where the applicant lives, which has solved one of the grievances in the application.. The Municipality has to do a number of solid actions to comply with the environmental laws. Secretaryof the Municipality has submitted a reply no. H1- 20412/18 dated 30.12.2020 to the Annexure B notice of Pollution Control Board. In the letter, they have proposed certain actions for each of the points raised, as given below:
As it was pointed out that there is gap between generation and collection of Solid Waste, the gap will be filled by utilizing informal waste collectors like scrap-merchants.
For wet-waste, three decentralized aerobic composting units (Thumboormoozhi model) have been installed and will be made operational at the earliest.
D2D collection will shortly be extended to 100% households and commercial establishments.
Illegal littering in public places will be curbed and punitive actions will be taken against offenders.
Enough fund will be set aside for biomining legacy waste in the proposed revision of annual plan.
The Municipality has applied for Authorization under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 from Board and the application is under consideration. It is humbly submitted that the Board shall take necessary action to ensure that full compliance is achieved by the Municipality failing which necessary action as per Rules & levy of Environmental Compensation will be initiated."
3. The Tribunal on consideration of the report observed:
"1 to 3. xxx ........................ xxx .................................xxx
4. The above the report clearly establishes violations of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and thus projects a sorry state of affairs where the State is unable to perform its basic obligation to the citizens of ensuring clean environment. Under the earlier orders of this Tribunal in OA6060/2018, the State was directed to identify some villages as model villages which may be fully compliant in first phase. In the 7 present case, population is around 50,000 and waste generation is approximately 1.4 TPD which can be managed so as to make a 'zero waste village'. SPCB needs to continuously interact with the concerned authorities and ensure compliance to make Panamanna Village, Ottapalam Municipality as model in four months. Secretaries Rural and Urban Development of State and the Municipal Commissioner need to coordinate for the purpose.
5. This Tribunal has already dealt with the matter in the light of earlier Supreme Court orders and the binding statutory rules in the presence of the Chief Secretary of the State. The Tribunal has also laid down scale of compensation for violation apart from action against the erring officers. We may refer to the order of this Tribunal dated 28.02.2020 in O.A. No. 606/2018 for ready reference:
"1to40...xxx..............................xxx...................................x xx
41. In view of above, consistent with the directions referred to in Para 29 issued on 10.01.2020 in the case of UP, Punjab and Chandigarh which have also been repeated for other States in matters already dealt with, we direct:
a. In view of the fact that most of the statutory timelines have expired and directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and this Tribunal to comply with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 remain unexecuted, interim compensation scale is hereby laid down for continued failure after 31.03.2020. The compliance of the Rules requires taking of several steps mentioned in Rule 22 from Serial No. 1 to 10 (mentioned in para 12 above). Any such continued failure will result in liability of every Local Body to pay compensation at the rate of Rs. 10 lakh per month per Local Body for population of above 10 lakhs, Rs. 5 lakh per month per Local Body for population between 5 lakhs and 10 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakh per month per other Local Body from 01.04.2020 till compliance. If the Local Bodies are unable to bear financial burden, the liability will be of the State Governments with liberty to take remedial action against the erring Local Bodies. Apart from compensation, adverse entries must be made in the ACRs of the CEO of the said Local Bodies and other senior functionaries in Department of Urban Development etc. who are responsible for compliance of order of this Tribunal. Final compensation may be assessed and recovered by the State PCBs /PCCs in the light of Para 33 above within six months from today. CPCB may prepare a template and issue an appropriate direction to the State PCBs/PCCs for undertaking such an assessment in the light thereof within one month.
b. Legacy waste remediation was to 'commence' from 01.11.2019 in terms of order of this Tribunal dated 8 17.07.2019 in O.A. No. 519/2019 para 281 even though statutory timeline for 'completing' the said step is till 07.04.2021 (as per serial no. 11 in Rule
22), which direction remains unexecuted at most of the places and delay in clearing legacy waste is causing huge damage to environment in monetary terms as noted in para 33 above, pending assessment and recovery of such damage by the concerned State PCB within four months from today, continued failure of every Local Body on the subject of commencing the work of legacy waste sites remediation from 01.04.2020 till compliance will result in liability to pay compensation at the rate of Rs. 10 lakh per month per Local Body for population of above 10 lakhs, Rs. 5 lakh per month per Local Body for population between 5 lakhs and 10 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakh per month per other Local Body. If the Local Bodies are unable to bear financial burden, the liability will be of the State Governments with liberty to take remedial action against the erring Local Bodies. Apart from compensation, adverse entries must be made in the ACRs of the CEO of the said Local Bodies and other senior functionaries in Department of Urban Development etc. who are responsible for compliance of order of this Tribunal. Final compensation may be assessed and recovered by the State PCBs/PCCs in the light of Para 33 above within six months from today.
c. Further, with regard to thematic areas listed above in para 20, steps be ensured by the Chief Secretaries in terms of directions of this Tribunal especially w.r.t. plastic waste, bio-medical waste, construction and demolition waste which are linked with solid waste treatment and disposal. Action may also be ensured by the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs with respect to remaining thematic areas viz. hazardous waste, e-waste, polluted industrial clusters, reuse of treated water, performance of CETPs/ETPs, groundwater extraction, groundwater recharge, restoration of water bodies, noise pollution and illegal sand mining.
d. The compensation regime already laid down for failure of the Local Bodies and/or Department of Irrigation and Public Health/In-charge Department to 1 The Chief Secretaries may ensure allocation of funds for processing of legacy waste and its disposal and in their respective next reports, give the progress relating to management of all the legacy waste dumpsites. Remediation work on all other dumpsites may commence from 01.11.2019 and completed preferably within six months and in no case beyond one year. Substantial progress be made within six months. We are conscious that the SWM Rules provide for a maximum period of upto five years for the purpose, however there is no reason why the same should not happen earlier, in view of serious implications on the environment and public health.
9take action for treatment of sewage in terms of observations in Para 36 above will result in liability to pay compensation as already noted above which are reproduced for ready reference:
i. Interim measures for phytoremediation/ bioremediation etc. in respect of 100% sewage to reduce the pollution load on recipient water bodies - 31.03.2020. Compensation is payable for failure to do so at the rate of Rs. 5 lakh per month per drain by concerned Local Bodies/States (in terms of orders dated 28.08.2019 in O.A. No. 593/2017 and 06.12.2019 in O.A. No. 673/2018) w.e.f. 01.04.2020.
ii. Commencement of setting up of STPs -
31.03.2020. Compensation is payable for failure to do so at the rate of Rs. 5 lakh per month per STP by concerned Local Bodies/States (in terms of orders dated 28.08.2019 in O.A. No. 593/2017 and 06.12.2019 in O.A. No. 673/2018) w.e.f. 01.04.2020.
iii. Commissioning of STPs - 31.03.2021.
Compensation is payable for failure to do so at the rate of Rs. 10 lakh per month per STP by concerned Local Bodies/States (in terms of orders dated 28.08.2019 in O.A. No. 593/2017 and 06.12.2019 in O.A. No. 673/2018) w.e.f. 01.04.2021.
e. Compensation in above terms may be deposited with the CPCB for being spent on restoration of environment which may be ensured by the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs.
f. An 'Environment Monitoring Cell' may be set up in the office of Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs within one month from today, if not already done for coordination and compliance of above directions which will be the responsibility of the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs.
g. Compliance reports in respect of significant environmental issues may be furnished in terms of order dated 07.01.2020 quarterly with a copy to CPCB."
6. Vide order dated 14.12.2020 in O.A. No. 606/2018, Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and other environmental issues, further direction issued is as follows:-
"1to8...xxx.........................xxx........................................... .xxx 10
9. The compensation in terms of earlier order be recovered and credited to a separate account with the Environment Department of the States/UTs to be used for restoration of environment in the concerned States/UTs. The deposit, instead of being made with the CPCB, may now be made to the said account."
7. Let the Chief Secretary, Kerala ensure coordination and compliance. Compliance affidavit be filed before the next date by e- mail at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/ OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF."
4. In pursuance of above, a report has been filed by the State of Kerala on 06.08.2021 mentioning the proposed action to be as follows:
"Activity -1 - Setting up solid waste processing facilities Sl Task Action Time line no 1 MCF and RRF Extension (4ton Improve the storage and 3 Months processing capacity) sorting facilities of MCF and RRF (Min. Of 1500sq ft), Provide basic facilities (restroom) for workers, Weighing machine etc. in MCF 2 Renovation of Windrow Installation of new 2 Months Composting Unit and Bio machineries in Plant.
Waste collection (1 tonne The municipality had per day capacity) set up a bio composting plant with a processing capacity of one Tonne per day for bio waste treatment but plant is currently out of order due to malfunction of machinery.
3 Setting Up Storage Facilities in Construction of New Mini 10 Months
Cluster level MCF in 10 different
centres of Municipality
4 Bio waste collection from HH Community composting 2 Months
and institution (Thumburmoozhi Model)
has been installed in two
places but has not
started functioning.
Ensure the functioning
of existing Tumburmuzhi
community level Bio
waste composting unit in
Two centres.
11
5 Source level bio waste Distribution of compost
treatment equipment's to units to Households.
Households Only for 2100
households Source level
bio waste treatment 10 Months
facilities has been
provided so far,
remaining HHs will be
provided.
2-Ensure 100% Door to Door Collection from HHs and
institutions.
Sl. No Task Action Time
line3.
1 Strengthening of Strengthen the number of 3 Months
Haritha karma Haritha karma sena in
sena Ward level as two members
and provide door to door
collection services in all
houses and establishments.
There are 43 Haritha
karmasena members in
Municipality at present. The
present condition of door to
door collection from 7260
households & 625
institutions is (58%) &
(30.8%) respectively. It will
be covered to 100%.
2 Awareness creation House campaign by Peoples, 2 Months
to public on Door to representatives and HKS
door Collection and Members. Collection Calendar
user fee Distribution, Leaflet
Distribution, Cluster level
meetings, to RWA and
Households in all wards.
Special meetings and
awarenesscampaigns to
Commercial establishments.
Establish Boardsand Wall
paintings on SWM messages
in municipal area.
3- Reclamation of Historical Dumpsite in Panamanna Trenching Ground Sl. Task Action Time line no.
1 Scientific Estimation of legacy Identify the agency 1 Months
waste and conduct
estimation study
2 Project preparation and An amount of 70
implementation for lakhs has been
treatment and disposal of included in the
legacy waste (Bio mining annual plan 2021-22
and bio remediation) for the treatment of 12 Months
legacy waste at
Panamanna plant
through bio mining
/bio remediation.
12
4-Setting up Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) Sl Task Action Time line No 1 Establishment of Sewage The KIIFBI project of 2 years treatment (1.5 MLD) Plant 11.40 crore has been at west side of Municipal approved for sewage Bus stand Ottappalam Treatment Plant (STP) and steps are being taken to set up at 52 cents west of the municipal bus stand.
It has received the approval of the Pollution control Board. KMBR Rule Exemption and Fire NOC is not yet received .The STP plant will be set up as soon as it is received.
5- Dump site clearance and Beautification Sl Task Action Time line no.
Clearing of Dump sites
Conversion and
spots
beatification of all litter
spots identified in road
2 Months
sides. Surveillance
Camera & Squad will be
engaged "
5. From the above, it is seen that the proposed plan in terms of timeline is against the statutory rules - Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and orders of this Tribunal referred to above. With regard to setting up of STP, the timeline proposed is in violation of judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors.2 For exceeding the timeline, compensation is required to be paid in terms of orders of this Tribunal for restoration of the environment. In that regard, the compliance status has not been mentioned. It is also seen that even though a new machine is said to have been acquired, the same is stated to be defective. It is a matter of 2 (2017) 5 SCC 326 13 surprise how a defective machine has been acquired. It is not known what is the action taken for acquiring a new machine which is defective.
6. In view of seriousness of violations and continuing violation and non-compliance of statutory rules and orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and this Tribunal, to the prejudice of the environment, public health and rule of law, stringent action is required to be taken against the violators. Inspite of earlier directions to the Chief Secretary, no such action appears to have been taken so far. We note this with regret and disappointment and expect the State to comply with the law, failing which the Tribunal will have no option except to take further coercive measures against the concerned violators.
List for further consideration on 13.01.2022 before the Southern Bench. The record of this matter may be transmitted to the Southern Bench.
Adarsh Kumar Goel, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Brijesh Sethi, JM Dr. Nagin Nanda, EM October 7, 2021 Original Application No. 147/2020 DV 14