Bombay High Court Seeks Response From Centre, State On Plea To Ban Plastic Flowers

The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Maharashtra and the Central governments to file their affidavits in response to a writ petition seeking to ban the use of plastic or artificial flowers meant for decoration and other purposes.

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar was hearing a petition filed by Association of Natural Flower Growers, Pune, which sought a direction to ban the use of plastic flowers citing they are covered under the notification issued by the State in 2022, banning all plastic items meant for single-use.

"The notification issued by the Maharashtra government banning several single-use plastic items mentioned all the items but not these flowers. Why can't the State simply issue a notification?" the Chief Justice questioned Additional Government Pleader Priyabhushan Kakade.

The bench noted that the State government had written a letter to the Union Minister of Environment, reiterating the representation made by the petitioners to the State.

Objecting to this, the Chief Justice said, "Instead of writing letters you could invoke your powers under the Maharashtra Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act, 2006. You are empowered to issue notification to ban a plastic item."

Advocate Aseem Naphade, appearing for the petitioners pointed out that the 2022 notification of the State bans plastic items which have a thickness of less than 100 microns. He further pointed out that the plastic flowers have a thickness of 30 microns, which can affect the ecosystem adversely.

To substantiate his contention, Naphade relied upon a research report on the impact of such flowers on ecosystem, prepared by the International Association of Packaging.

The bench, however, asked the State and the Central governments to file their responses to the petition within four weeks and accordingly adjourned the hearing.