Primary duty of municipality to deal with municipal waste even if illegally dumped on private property: Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has clarified that it is the primary duty of municipality to deal with municipal waste even if it was illegally dumped on private property. 

It is the primary duty of the Municipality to deal with municipal waste. The fact that such municipal waste has been illegally dumped in private property (here the property of the Kochi Metro) cannot absolve the Municipality from the liability of removing the waste for proper treatment as is done in the case of other municipal waste being collected and processed by the Municipality, Justice Gopinath P clarified. 

The Court was hearing a plea where the main grievance was the dumping of substantial amount of waste in a plot of land belonging to the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. (Kochi Metro) on the northern side of the NGO Quarters-Mavelipuram road. The parcel of land is part of the land allotted to the Kochi Metro for the purposes of expansion of the Kochi Metro to the Kakkanad area, the petitioner told. 

The counsel for the Kochi Metro stated that the Kochi Metro had attempted to fence the said land to prevent the dumping of waste which was obstructed by the local residents including the petitioner. The Kochi Metro is ready and willing to fence the land or construct a compound wall immediately, it added. 

The petitioner continued to argue that the accumulated waste must be removed.

The counsel appearing for the Municipality submitted that it has no responsibility to remove the waste, as it was dumped in the property of the Kochi Metro. The Court did not argue with this submission. 

With this, the Court directed that the Kochi Metro to take immediate steps to either fence or construct a compound wall around the property in question to prevent illegal dumping of waste. In case if any obstruction, Kochi Metro was enabled by the court to seek appropriate assistance from the Inspector of Police having jurisdiction over the area.

The Court also ordered the Thrikkakara Municipality to accept the accumulated waste without segregation and to deal with it as is done in the case of other municipal waste collected. 

The steps to remove the waste as directed above shall be completed within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this judgment. The Municipality shall also give suitable instructions regarding the site to which the waste has to be removed so as to enable the 3rd respondent to remove the waste as directed above within the time specified, the Court said before disposing the plea.

[Read Judgment]