Designate senior officers to supervise 100% collection, segregation of solid waste, SC tells NCR states
Noting that 100 per cent collection and segregation of solid waste was of “immense importance”, the Supreme Court has directed the Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh governments to designate senior officers to supervise the process to achieve 100 per cent collection and segregation of solid waste.
“We direct the States of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as well as the MCD to designate high ranking officers as nodal officers to supervise the compliance activities of achieving 100 per cent segregation of waste,” a Bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka ordered.
“The same nodal officers shall also supervise the target of achieving 100 per cent collection of solid waste,” it added.
Observing that the states must make a realistic assessment of generated waste, the Bench directed the NCR states to fix an outer limit on achieving this target.
“We direct the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to fix an outer limit for achieving the target of 100 per cent collection of solid waste. The nodal officers dealing with both the issues (100 per cent segregation of waste and 100 per cent collection of solid waste) shall file regular compliance reports starting from September 1,” the top court said in its April 24 order.
“After every quarter, compliance reports shall be filed by the nodal officers in this court. As and when the compliance reports are filed, the Registrar (Judicial) of this court shall ensure that the same are placed before the appropriate Bench dealing with the case,’ it said.
“The nodal officers dealing with both the issues shall file regular compliance reports starting from September 1. After every quarter, compliance report shall be filed in this court,” it said.
“Unless proper publicity is given to the provisions of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016, and penalty is provided for non-compliance it cannot be effectively implemented,” it said.
‘We direct the NCR states and the MCD to report compliance with the above direction as well as to produce data before the court regarding the penalties imposed and recovered so far,” the Bench said, posting the matter regarding implementation of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016, for further hearing on May 8.
Noting that due to the large-scale construction/development projects in the NCR region, the generation of the municipal solid waste was bound to be multiplied, the Bench asked all the NCR states to make a realistic assessment of the expected generation of municipal solid waste in the next 25 years so that all the authorities will be in the state of preparedness to deal with the ever-increasing quantum of municipal solid waste generated in the cities.
“We direct the governments of the NCR states to file affidavits on or before September 1, 2025, dealing with the steps taken on this behalf. We make it clear that the affidavits shall give data of all the local authorities falling within the jurisdiction of the respective states which are in the NCR region.
On the violations at construction and demolition sites, the apex court said compliance reports were filed by the air quality management.
It also directed the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Adjoining Areas to call for data of action taken by authorities concerned. They shall compile data up to the end of July 2025 and file an affidavit by September 1, 2025, it ordered.
India