The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the State government to not take any precipitative action for now against garbage contractors under the provisions of the Karnataka Essential Services and Maintenance Act.
Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the interim order on a batch of petitions filed by S.N.N. Balasubramaniam and others, who have contracts with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike for collection and disposal of municipal solid waste.
It has been contended in their petition that municipal solid waste management is not an essential service. The petitioners have questioned the September 23, 2017 notification issued by the State government for invoking provisions of the Karnataka ESMA against the petitioner-contractors if they failed to discharge their contractual obligations.