Bio-medical waste has been treated with scant respect in several state run hospitals and this extremely hazardous practice has been brought to the notice of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by Rajiv Narayan.

The bench, headed by Justice Jawad Rahim, had imposed cost on the states and had asked for compliance (as per norms) reports. There was no reply from Uttarakhand, which irked the bench. The state’s counsel on Monday (March 19) asked for exemption from paying the cost which was imposed by the bench on the last day of hearing. He cited reasons for the delay in filing of the report.

The counsel for the applicant submitted that the reasons were vague and the particulars given by Uttarakhand were also not clear. The bench waived the cost by way of last chance, but warned that if they fail to file the report, then it will impose exemplary cost on Uttarakhand.

On August 29, 2017, the bench had passed the following directions:

1. The environmental compensation, as offered, of Rs 20 Lakh would be paid in two equal instalments.
2. The industry would be subjected to joint inspection by Central Pollution Control Board and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and report thereof shall be submitted, with analysis report of the effluent and emission both.
3. If the report is so submitted, it shall be separately registered and placed before the Tribunal for its appropriate orders. It further directed to state to find out the total generation of hazardous waste in their respective states, which agencies have been authorized in terms of rules to collect, transport, disposed of and the process of the hazardous wastes, what is the capacity of the plants which have been given due authorization for that purpose, what happens and how the remnant hazardous waste is being dealt with.

However, there was non-compliance of these directions, so on March 5, 2018, the bench imposed cost of Rs 50,000 on Uttarakhand and NCT Delhi  or non-filing response to show cause notice and directions of the tribunal and the bench also ordered for the presence of chief secretary of each state.

—India Legal Bureau