A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih warned of “harsh orders” if stakeholders failed to present a time-bound implementation schedule.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has criticized the “complete failure” of agencies in implementing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in Delhi, directing the city’s chief secretary to convene a meeting with all stakeholders to address the issue.
Emphasizing the urgency, the court remarked that the rules must be enforced “in true letter and spirit” in the national capital.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih warned of “harsh orders” if stakeholders failed to present a time-bound implementation schedule.
The bench stated, “If all other authorities fail to coordinate and provide a time-bound schedule for implementing the 2016 Rules, the court may be compelled to consider issuing stringent orders.”
“We instruct the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, to address the implementation of the 2016 Rules,” the bench directed.
The bench emphasized, “All stakeholders must collaborate and submit a unified report to the court, outlining timelines for compliance with the provisions of the 2016 Rules.”
The court noted, “The meeting and preparation of a common response must be completed by December 13.”
The court noted that the 2016 Rules often remain unimplemented nationwide, and in Delhi, this has led to illegal landfill sites prone to fires, exacerbated by ongoing construction activities contributing to waste. It further instructed the Delhi government to include data on daily solid waste generation in its report.
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The bench authorized the special secretary of Delhi’s environment department to involve central government officials, if necessary, and allowed the submission of applications to the court if any stakeholder failed to cooperate. The matter will be heard on December 16.
The court’s remarks follow the MCD’s October 18 statement that its processing capacity of 11,000 tonnes per day would be insufficient by 2026. On July 26, the court expressed concerns about over 3,000 tonnes of untreated daily waste in Delhi, warning it could trigger a “public health emergency.”
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