The National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently imposed a fine of ₹100 crores on the Kochi Corporation in a suo motu case.
The case is initiated on the basis of news reports regarding the fire that recently broke out at the Brahmapuram waste dump at the edge of Kochi city.
A division bench of Justice AK Goel & Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Dr. A Senthil Vel submitted that the State government and its authorities completely neglected their duties with regard to solid waste management which led to the fire.
The NGT order stated that “The State of Kerala and its authorities have been an utter failure and have rampantly violated the statutory solid waste management rules and orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
However, the bench noted no accountability has been fixed for this failure so far.
The NGT said that “Except for giving future plans, no fixing of accountability is proposed even now which is a matter of regret. No prosecution has been launched against the guilty for criminal offenses under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and also under relevant provisions of IPC nor has action been taken for violation of orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and repeated orders of this Tribunal in proceedings transferred to the Tribunal by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Such an attitude of State authorities is a threat to rule of law. We hope the situation is remedied at the higher level in the State such as the DGP and the Chief Secretary to uphold the Constitution and the mandate of environmental law.”
In light of what it considered to be long-standing neglect on the part of the Kochi Corporation, the NGT imposed a fine of ₹100 crores on Kochi Corporation to be deposited with the Chief Secretary, Kerala including dealing with the public health issues of the victims within 1 month for necessary remediation measures.
Moreover, it directed the Chief Secretary, Kerala, to expeditiously fix the accountability for the neglect of the concerned officers.
The order stated, “Apart from above, we direct the Chief Secretary, Kerala to fix accountability of concerned officers for such gross failures and initiate action under criminal law as well as by way of departmental proceedings, following due process and place the same in the public domain within two months.”
Therefore, the order was issued on a case taken up by the NGT suo motu based on the news report of The Hindu regarding the fire and the resultant smog that choked Kochi city’s residents for well over a week.
The NGT stated at the outset that this present order was without prejudice to the proceedings before the High Court and would be subject to its outcome.
Notably, the Kerala High Court has currently vacated the stay on an older NGT order levying ₹1 crore fine on the corporation.
Ongoing through other orders, the NGT itself issued by the Supreme Court regarding solid waste management, the NGT considered that good governance in the matter of waste management has been neglected for a long time to the detriment of the environment and public health.
The order stated that”… no one has taken moral responsibility for the such gross failure of rule of law and damage to public health. It is difficult to understand what is the value of citizens’ right to life and safety with such an attitude of total neglect by authorities in Government. This calls for soul searching and also high-level inquiry to determine culpability in the larger public interest.”
