Can't use private land to process biomedical waste: Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued a notice against the establishment of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBMEWTF) on private lands in response to a petition against the same. The court noted that such a move by the government would not be feasible as it would violate the norms set up to ensure the safety and surety of the plants.

The petition is filed on behalf of the International Human Rights Council through Advocates Suren Uppal, Sneha Baul, Samiksha Gupta, Ch. Animesh Prusty, Akshita Raina. Accordingly, the Delhi HC bench consisting of Justices DN Patel and Jyoti Singh have issued a notice to Central Government, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Delhi Government.

"Functioning of CBMWTF is a heavy-duty facility which needs to strictly comply with environment protection norms for safeguarding the public health and climate change. Hence, the said activity cannot be delegated to a private entity, when the statutory rules do not envisage the same," the petition said, as quoted by LiveLaw.

The petition also pointed out that establishing such a waste-treatment plant on private land could mean that it was in violation of rules framed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, which states that such a plant must not be within 500m of residential areas. It was the responsibility of government entities to provide the land needed for CBMWTF plants.

It was also noted that the tender document issued to set up biomedical waste processing plants would require the burden of the cost of processing to fall on the public, which would drive up healthcare costs.