Sc Deadline To Stop Misuse Of Toxic Substances
The Supreme Court yesterday set a deadline for the Union government to take positive action to stop import and misuse of toxic substances by hundreds of chemical units in various states.
The division bench consisting of Justice J S Verma and Justice B N Kirpal recorded the statement of Additional Solicitor-General Altaf Ahmad that the action taken so far had not been satisfactory and much more needed to be done.
Therefore the Supreme Court gave the government time till April 8 to set things right.
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The government has been directed to file a detailed `action taken report' in the court by April 1.
The court was hearing the petition filed by the Research Foundation for Science alleging that toxic substances from the industrialised nations were being imported and these were distributed to small units all over the country for re-use or to be disposed of.
These units did not have the know-how to deal with such substances, causing hazard to public health and the ecology.
During the hearing, the judges also warned top officials of the Union environment ministry at the secretary level to either enforce the rules or face action.
They remarked that despite a year of court monitoring, nothing seemed to have been done to take action against erring units.
The authorities had power to disconnect electricity and water supplies to the units but nothing has been done so far.
Let these officers know that the highest court cannot defer action against them any longer. They should treat this warning as a fair notice to mend their ways, the judges remarked.
Counsel for the petitioner told the court that while figures furnished by the government initially indicated the number of such units in the country were only 5,000 (majority of them being unlicensed), the figure for Maharashtra alone given by the ministry now showed 8,500 units.
The situation in individual states was also alarming.
In Uttar Pradesh, out of 654 units, only 24 had licences. Dumping sites had also not been notified.
Therefore toxic substances were dumped in the open, causing havoc to the ecology. A similar situation also prevailed in Punjab and other states.