SC appoints panel to look into plastic bag ban

The Supreme Court Tuesday took serious note of the near absence of the enforcement of the ban on certain plastic carry bags that have become a hazard for grazing animals, and appointed three court commissioners who would visit Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh to review the ban's implementation.

The bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice A.K. Sikri appointed a three-member committee of lawyers, and said Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh would treat the three lawyers -- Bina Madhvan, Menaka Guruswamy and T.V. Raghuvanshi -- as the court's representatives.

The court also looked into the issue of plastic bags in Karnataka, and asked the state's principal secretary in the urban development ministry to be present in court during the next hearing to assist the court in passing "appropriate orders".

Anguished over the condition of animals including cows who suffer serious pain after consuming waste plastic bags, Chief Justice Dattu said: "Imagine the pain a cow is suffering, you sitting in air-conditioned rooms say that law (banning plastic carry bags) is being enforced."

"Mere constitution of a committee for enforcing ban is not enough, effective implementation and implementing in all seriousness" is the issue, the court said.

The bench said the matter related to 2012 and wondered if things were either not moving or moving at a tardy pace.

Appearing for NGO Karuna Society for Animals and Nature, counsel Shyam Divan told the court that cows were consuming plastic along with other waste, and there were cases where plastic recovered from their intestines after surgery weighed 52 kg, 48 kg and 24 kg.

"The problem is across the country. Cows and other wild animals like tuskers are the victims," Divan told the court.

He urged the bench to issue special nationwide directions to ban plastic bags, including the manufacture, stocking, sale and use of certain grades of plastics.