HC imposes Rs 20K cost on UT for delay in Dadu Majra dump case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the Chandigarh Administration for failing to file a reply in a public interest litigation pertaining to the Dadu Majra garbage dump, despite prior directions issued in February.

The Bench also asked the Municipal Corporation to commit to a deadline for clearing the site.

Appearing for the MC, advocate Gaurav Mohunta informed the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Sumeet Goel that 40,000 metric tonnes of legacy waste out of the total 2.4 lakh MT had already been removed. He added that the remaining 2 lakh tonnes of waste would be cleared by May 31, and no fresh dumping was taking place.

Mohunta further submitted that three agencies were working on the ground and the older dumps had been fully cleared. A solid waste processing plant is proposed at the site to handle future waste.

The Bench directed that all pending applications in the matter would be taken up for arguments only after the UT Administration files its reply, which it sought two weeks to do.

Petitioner advocate Amit Sharma, who has also filed a perjury plea in the matter, opposed the UT Administration’s claim that it was not a party to the specific application.

Citing an April 2022 order, Sharma told the court that the UT’s own counsel had then insisted on clubbing the petitions and they had since been heard together. He also pointed to a November 2023 order, where a UT counsel placed on record a document purported to be a tender “about to be floated”, which Sharma alleged was never shared and was “fabricated”. The document has been included in the perjury application as part of what he termed a “fraud upon the court”.

Sharma alleged that the MC’s reply already on record contained “demonstrably false statements” and sought liberty to file a consolidated response after the UT files its reply. Allowing the plea, the court imposed costs and listed the matter for further hearing on July 23.

Chandigarh