New Delhi: Irked over non-implementation of rules, the Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Maharashtra government for failing to allocate funds for solid waste treatment plants in the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation and said the state was duty-bound to protect the environment.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed strong disapproval of Maharashtra's previous stand that there were no funds available for essential projects.
It directed the state to submit a detailed affidavit specifying the time the funds would be released and the number of civic bodies in Maharashtra complying with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The affidavit would be filed by February 21. On January 15, the bench was dissatisfied over the stand of the Urban Development Department of Mumbai claiming they lacked funds for the plants and asked the principal secretary to appear through video-conferencing and explain the stand before it on January 24.
"A very strange stand has been taken ….The stand is that the two projects cannot be cleared due to non-availability of funds. We are dealing with the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Non-implementation of the Rules has a direct nexus with air pollution," it said.
The bench had also observed the state owed an explanation. On Friday, the bench asked Principal Secretary H Govindraj to explain why the state refused to provide funds to a civic body for implementing statutory rules.
"Where is the money going? Is it the stand of the state government that you are not in a position to pay for these two projects which are essential for the implementation of the 2016 rules? We will go into the larger aspect, where the money is going? Tell us when you will pay?" asked the bench.
“It is very sad that we are required to do all this. The state does not realise its obligations under the Constitutional scheme to protect the environment,” it added.
The officer assured the bench that funds would be allocated in the next financial year and both detailed project reports would be approved by April 2024.
The bench said the assurance was conditional and lacked clarity and said the affidavit indicated fund allocation would depend on the cancellation of other projects or savings which was a "roundabout" approach.
The top court was hearing an appeal of 2023 of Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation against the order of the National Green Tribunal in Pune. One Charan Ravindra Bhatt filed the plea on implementation of the rules.
The top court, on December 12, 2023, first took up the plea of the municipal body. The NGT, Pune, order against the appellant to pay compensation was stayed by the bench.
But the court directed the appellant to file an affidavit setting out the manner in which it proposed to comply with the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
“The appellant will have to also state in what manner they propose to deal with the issue of legacy waste which is flagged by the tribunal... The affidavit to the aforesaid effect shall be filed by the appellant by February 22, 2024,” it added.
