Palike's bid to clear trash is garbage, says HC

Hike fine on households that fail to segregate waste at source'

In a terse ruling on Monday, the High Court of Karnataka described the waste management policies of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as being equivalent to ‘garbage’.

The Palike has now been directed to ensure power generation using waste, and to appoint executive magistrates in every ward to slap fine on households which fail to segregate ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ waste.

The ruling was made during the hearing of petitions which sought the proper disposal of waste and the superceding of the Palike for its failure to address the problem.

The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna, ordered the Palike to consider increasing fines for those homes and business establishments which do not segregate waste. At present, the fine is a mere Rs five. 

“It is not sufficient to only prevent violations of the segregation rule. Power should be vested with the health inspector or environment engineer in each ward,”they said, and added that the ward-level executive magistrates may be vested with powers under Sections 20 and 21 of CrPC and Section 431 of the Karnataka Municipal Act.

Directives

In its list of directives to the Palike, the court said that the Palike should store segregated trash in three different places within each ward before ensuring that it is transported to an assigned landfill the same day.