Andhra Pradesh HC Declines State Pollution Control Board's Plea To Submit Gap Analysis Report On Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities In Sealed Cover

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has rejected the claim to the State Pollution Control Board to submit that Gap Analysis Study in a sealed cover, holding that it is the statutory obligation of the Board to conduct the Study.

“We direct respondent No.4 to place on record a copy of the said report. We are surprised to hear from learned counsel for the A.P Pollution Control Board that he should place the said report in a sealed cover. We do not find any reason as to why the report should be placed in a sealed cover when the issues are covered by statutory provisions and there is an obligation on the authorities to deal with the issue which otherwise can cause serious hazards to the human species.”

The order was passed by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Ninala Jayasurya in a Public Interest Litigation filed challenging the inaction of the State Pollution Control Board in submitting a Gap Analysis Report to determine whether there was a need for setting up additional facilities for treatment of bio-medical waste.

The petitioner pleaded that only 12 bio-medical treatment plants had been set up in the State and only 11 were functional.

The petitioner in the PIL brought it to the notice of the Bench that in a WP filed by the CBWTF Association of Andhra Pradesh in 2019, the Court had directed the PCB to conduct the Gap Study within 4 months. However, despite an elapse of 3 years, no report had been filed.

The 2019 plea was filed seeking the implementation of the Revised Guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board for the Establishment of Bio-Medical Waste Management Facilities in India, 2016 in consonance with the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and the related Environmental Laws.

During the course of the hearing of the PIL, the Counsel on behalf of the PCB informed the Court, that the survey had been conducted and the report would be submitted in a sealed cover.

The bench did not accept this and noted that the PCB was obligated under the statute to conduct the said survey and hence directed the Counsel to file the report after serving it on the other side.

Thus the matter was listed to 31.07.2024

Gaddam Aravind Vs. Government of India and Others

WP(PIL) 125 of 2024

Counsel for petitioner: Kallemu Vijaya Raju

Counsel for respondent: Jupudi V K Yagna Dutt & V. Surendra Reddy

Click Here To Read/Download Order