Expert panel will look into waste woes, L-G tells SC

An expert committee will be constituted to deal with all aspects of solid waste management in Delhi, the lieutenant-governor’s office informed the Supreme Court on Monday.

Additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, appearing for the lieutenant-governor, submitted names of the proposed members of the committee before a bench of Justice MB Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, which said the issue of garbage collection and disposal in Delhi was a serious situation.

“The committee would have to meet on a day-to-day basis to take stock of the situation,” justice Lokur told Anand. The ASG clarified that people engaged in business enterprises or having commercial interests should not be made members of the panel. She suggested people from resident welfare associations can be its members.

The court then asked Anand and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is assisting the bench, if panel members not residing in Delhi will be able to attend meetings on a daily basis.

“They will have to come every day for meetings. You will have to give them office space. Almost 20 persons are there. It is serious and not a one-time thing,” said Justice Lokur.

“It (meeting) has to be on a day-to-day basis. They have to visit the sites, find out what needs to be done. It will not be a bureaucratic kind of a committee. The issue is serious,” he said.

Gonsalves said he would find out from the members but suggested that the travel and living costs of those coming from outside Delhi should be borne by the authorities.

The court fixed August 29 for the next hearing.

The L-G’s decision to form a committee on garbage disposal comes in the backdrop of the top court passing some scathing remarks against the civic agencies for failing to clean up landfill sites in Delhi.

The top court had in the last hearing asked the L-G to frame a workable and implementable policy. Noting that the problem of solid waste in Delhi was “very critical,” the bench had observed that cooperation of citizens was needed to deal with it.

First Published: Aug 28, 2018 05:40 IST