What is the policy for ewaste disposal: HC asks authorities

The Delhi High Court today asked municipal bodies and the Delhi government whether there was any policy to deal with the disposal of electronic waste (e-waste), dubbing it a "critical area" which has so far escaped attention.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to Sunita Narain, who heads the Centre for Science and Environment, seeking a report from her on the issue of e-waste disposal.

It also asked the local commissioner, a journalist appointed by it earlier to inspect waste disposal in various parts of the city, to again visit various garbage dumps to ascertain whether the waste management by-laws, notified recently, were being implemented by the civic bodies.

The inspections were ordered by the bench as it was of the view that the emergence of cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria at the start of the year was a matter of concern as in the past these diseases have attained emergency proportions.

The court had earlier noted that in the first two months of 2018, six cases of dengue, two of malaria and one of chikungunya have already been reported from Delhi.

During the hearing, a direction was also issued to the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) to inform the court on the next date on April 11, whether the waste management by-laws were being implemented in the areas under its jurisdiction.

The order came after DCB said while it has been following the waste management by-laws, it needed instructions from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in this regard.

The court was hearing two PILs filed by advocates Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases in the national capital.

While hearing the PILs, the court had looked into the issue of solid waste management as it was of the view that garbage and lack of cleanliness also contributed to the spread of the vector-borne diseases. It had, thereafter, ordered framing of waste management bye-laws.

The corporations today told the bench they have uploaded the bye-laws on their respective websites and were imposing fines on those violating these rules. They also said they have collected lakhs of rupees in fines for violation of the sanitary rules and the bye-laws.