Disposed

Rahul Chandrakant Kulkarni v. the State of Maharashtra and Others

Bombay HC7 Mar 2018PIL/32/2018

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

High Court of Bombay Bench at Aurangabad disposed of a PIL concerning municipal solid waste management. The court directed respondents to collect and process waste per SWM Rules 2016 within specific timelines and dismissed the PIL as further continuation was unnecessary.

What did the court decide?

Direct respondents to collect, segregate, and process solid waste per SWM Rules 2016 within stipulated timelines; dispose of the PIL.

Rahul Chandrakant Kulkarni Vs the State of… — Environment and Pollution | Bombay HC (2018)

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( 1 )

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pil32.18

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD

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PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 32 OF 2018
WITH CA/2820/2018 IN PIL/32/2018 WITH CA/2956/2018 IN
PIL/32/2018 WITH CA/3028/2018 IN PIL/32/2018 WITH
CA/3031/2018 IN PIL/32/2018 WITH CA/3155/2018 IN PIL/32/2018

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RAHUL CHANDRAKANT KULKARNI

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VERSUS

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THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS

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Mr.Deodatta P. Palodkar, Advocate for the petitioner
Mr.A.B.Girase,GovernmentPleaderforthe
respondent/State
Mr.M.M.Nerlikar, Advocate for respondent No.8
Mr.R.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for added respondent Nos. 5 & 6
Mr.S.B.Deshpande, ASG for added respondent No.9
Miss. Pradnya Talekar, Advocate h/f Talekar and
Associates for the applicant in CA/2820/2018
Mr.S.S.Thombre, Advocate for the applicant in
CA/2956/2018
Mr.F.R.Tandale, Advocate for the applicant in
CA/3028/2018
Mr.Devanand Y. Nandedkar, Advocate for the applicant in
CA/3031/2018

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Mr.V.D.Sapkal, Advocate h/f Mr. Ashok Kachru Muley and
Mr. Arvind R. Kawade, Advocate for the applicant in
CA/3155/2018

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CORAM : S.S.SHINDE &
S.M.GAVHANE,JJ.
DATED :07.03.2018
P.C. :

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1.Heard learned counsel appearing for the
petitioner and respondents at length. This petition is

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filed with following prayers:

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[a]The Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to
issue appropriate writ, order or direction in
the nature of Writ of mandamus and direct all
the respondents to forthwith collect the
Municipal solid waste in dry and wet condition
and transport it to an appropriate place.

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[b]The Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to
issue appropriate Writ, order or direction in
the nature of writ of mandamus and thereby
direct to forthwith take steps for management of
solid waste as per SWM Rules, 2016 within a
stipulated period of six months.

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2.The petitioner by way of filing civil
application No.3270/2018 sought amendment in the
petition. This Court on 06.03.2018 allowed the civil
application for amendment and said application was
disposed of. By way of amendment the petitioner has
incorporated one more prayer which reads as follows:

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[bb]The petitioner states and submits
that, the Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to

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issue writ of mandamus or any other appropriate
writ, order or direction and thereby direct all
the respondents to forthwith take effective
steps for implementation of Solid Waste
Management Rules, 2016 in the entire State of
Maharashtra.

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3.The present Public Interest Litigation is heard
extensively on 24.02.2018, 26.02.2018 and 06.03.2018.
This Court on 06.03.2018 passed the following order.

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“Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner

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and learned counsel appearing for the respective Respondents.

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2. The Chief Secretary to the Government of

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Maharashtra has filed the affidavit. The same is already taken on record. It is stated in the said affidavit that, the Government of Maharashtra has prepared the state policy for solid waste management considering the provisions of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016. It is further stated that, under Swachh Bharat Mission every Urban Local Bodies (ULB) are required to prepare and implement Solid Waste Management

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Detailed Project Report (DPR). The DPRs to be prepared under Swachh Bharat Mission shall be on line with Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and the Swachh Bharat Mission guidelines. It is further stated that, the State Government has taken the following steps for effective implementation of Solid Waste Management under Swachh Bharat Mission :

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(i) In view of the failure of solid waste management projects on ground, the State has developed integrated approach for solid waste management. This approach is included in all DPRs prepared under Swachh Bharat Mission [SBM].

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(ii) The main focus of DPRs being prepared under SBM is on segregation of waste at source by generators, composting from wet waste, recycling and recovery of dry waste through Material Recovery Facilities, development of landfill sites and biomining of legacy dumps. To ensure quality of the DPRs following actions have been taken by the State:

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a. One agency for each division [total six agencies] is

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appointed for SWM DPR preparation under Swachh Bharat Mission.

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b. All these agencies are empanelled by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs [MoHUA] for DPR preparation under SBM.

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c. To ensure quality, National Environment Engineering Research Institute [NEERI] is appointed for appraisal of DPRs and after appraisal of DPRs by NEERI, DPRs are forwarded to Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran [MJP] for technical sanction.

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d. DPR preparation process is underway and already 152 DPRs are prepared and approved by the High Power Committee and MoHUA.

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e. All SWM DPRs are being prepared as per the SBM guidelines and SWM Rules, 2016.

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f. Under SBM for each DPR Central Govt. provides 35% of grant and STate Govt. provides 23.3% of grant to ULBs.

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g. Till today 152 DPRs have been prepared and

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approved and DPRs of all remaining towns shall be approved by April, 2018.

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h. State has also established an implementation framework to ensure implementation of approved SWM DPRs within mission period i.e. upto October 2019.

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It is further submitted that, the High Court on

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28.02.2018 directed the State to intervene in this matter and resolve the issue of Solid Waste Management within the city of Aurangabad. Accordingly, in compliance of the directions so issued, the State has intervened and following steps have been taken:

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(I) State Urban Development Department issued directions to Aurangabad Municipal Corporation to engage an NGO for segregation at source and behaviour changes.

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(II) Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner has been constituted vide

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Government Resolution dated 01.03.2018 at

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Divisional Level.

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(III) Decision has been taken to constitute State Level Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary.

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It is submitted that Aurangabad Municipal

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Corporation has submitted their Solid Waste Management DPR on 17th February, 2018 to State for approval of High Power Committee under Swachh Bharat Mission. The main focus of Aurangabad SWM DPR is segregation of waste at source by generators, decentralized and centralized composting from wet waste, biogas plant for organic waste, recycling and recovery of dry waste through Material Recovery Facilities. Accordingly, the DPR was submitted by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation on 17.02.2018. However, as the said DPR required some revision as

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per the provisions of State Policy on Solid Waste Management the same has been referred to M/s. EcoPro [an Agency authorized by Government of Maharashtra].

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In para 9 of the affidavit, it is stated thus:

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( 8 ) pil32.18

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“9. I further say and submit that considering the situation in Aurangabad Corporation area, the State has decided that immediate short terms measures such as segregation and composting of wet waste shall be implemented immediately in following manner.

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Activity	Timeline
Revision of DPR	By8th March 2018
Technical Sanction of DPR byMJP	By 15th March 2018
Approval of DPR by HPC	By 17th March 2018
Release of State share	By 21st March 2018
Release of central share	By 30th April 2018

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Whereas, the measures such as biogas plant, decentralized /

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centralized processing facility, scientific land fill shall be implemented as per time schedule provided below.

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Acti	Timeline
vity
DPR	• Segregation, collection
implem	& Transporation: 3 months

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( 9 ) pil32.18

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entatio
n by	• Decentral	ized
Aurang abad	/centralized 3 months	composting:
Municip
al	• Biogas	plant: 6
Corpora tion	months
	• Scientific
	landfill :	8 months
	• Scientific of legacy dump Naregaon:	closure at 12 months
6.	During the course of	hearing, learned counsel

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appearing for the petitioner and other counsel appearing for the respective Respondents, submitted that, Corporation, State Government and Central Government may proceed further in accordance with the statements made in para 9 within the time frame/time line mentioned in the said paragraph.

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The Commissioner of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad has filed additional affidavit. The same is taken on record. Learned counsel appearing for the Corporation submits that, the Corporation is in agreement/concurrence with

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the statements made in paragraph no.9 of the affidavit filed by

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the Chief Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra.

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In that view of the matter, the Corporation, State Government and Central Government can proceed further with the plan of action stated in para 9 of the affidavit of the Chief Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra. We impress upon the Corporation, State Government and Central Government to proceed in accordance with the plan and adhered to time limit/time line stated in para 9 of the affidavit, without wasting further time.”

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4.In view of the detailed order passed by this
Court on 06.03.2018 the relief claimed in terms of prayer
clause(b) and (bb) stands redressed/satisfied.

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5.We have carefully perused the pleadings in the
petition, grounds taken therein and annexure thereto and
the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and also replies
filed by respective respondents and all other material on
record, and we are of the considered view that the
respondents are legally obliged and bound to scrupulously
follow in letter and sprite the said Rules of 2016. In
that view of the matter we direct the respondents, and in
particular respondent No.7 to take steps forthwith to

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collect the Municipal Solid Waste in dry and wet
condition and take at the appropriate place to
process/dispose of the same in accordance with the scheme
of the aforesaid rules. While taking the aforesaid steps,
the Corporation i.e. respondent No.7 shall proceed in
accordance with law.

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6.In that view of the matter and since we are
granting/allowing the Public Interest Litigation in terms
of substantive prayers in the petition keeping in view
the public interest involved in it, further continuation
ofthePublicInterestLitigationisnot
necessary/warranted, Therefore, we dispose of the Public
Interest Litigation.

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7.In view of the disposal of the Public Interest
Litigation, CA/2820/2018, CA/2956/2018, CA/3028/2018,
CA/3031/2018 & CA/3155/2018 filed for intervention in
Public Interest Litigation stand disposed of.

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8.All concerned to act upon authenticated copy of
this order.

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[S.M.GAVHANE,J.]

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[S.S.SHINDE,J.]

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VishalK/ pil32.18

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( 12 ) pil32.18

Rahul Chandrakant Kulkarni v. the State of Maharashtra and Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Rahul Chandrakant Kulkarni v. the State of Maharashtra and Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Parties & counsel

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