The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice SR Krishna Kumar described the actions of BBMP Chief Gaurav Gupta as “blatant defiance of the Court’s directives” in a severely worded order.
“Even though the Chief Commissioner was aware that this Court had issued a restriction order, he engaged in obvious disobedience,” the Bench stated.
The Karnataka High Court was considering a slew of cases related to the city of Bengaluru’s solid waste management issues and the execution of the Solid Waste Management Rules.
During a previous hearing, the High Court highlighted that just one-third of Bengaluru’s total solid waste is processed in compliance with the law, leaving two-thirds of municipal solid trash discarded illegally.
The Solid Waste Management Rules assign various officers duties and responsibilities, such as ensuring that every city has a master plan for the establishment of solid waste processing and disposal facilities, identifying and allocating suitable land to local bodies for the establishment of solid waste processing and disposal facilities, and so on.
During the last hearing, the Karnataka High Court ordered the Chief Commissioner to appear with relevant records to determine why mixed solid waste was being dumped in the Mittaganahalli quarry despite the Court’s restraint order.
On behalf of the BBMP, Senior Advocate Udaya Holla argued that the court’s ruling could not be followed due to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bench rejected this explanation, stating that officers appear to believe they are above the law and that it was past time to take harsh action against them.
Because the Chief Commissioner offered an unqualified apology, the High Court gave him ten days to produce a personal statement explaining why the restraint order was not followed and the compelling facts that garbage was still being dumped at the quarry site before proceeding.
On March 17, the matter will be heard again.
Case: Ms Kavit Shankar v. The State of Karnataka.
