Biomedical waste dumping in TN from Kerala: File report on action, directs Madras HC

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu to file a report on the action taken by the government to stop dumping of biomedical waste from Kerala in Tirunelveli district.

A Bench of justices G Jayachandran and PD Audikesavalu gave the direction on Monday, while hearing a contempt petition filed by vice president of Tamil Nadu Nature and Environment Welfare Society, S Chidambaram of Tenkasi, alleging non-compliance of an order passed by the high court in this regard in 2019. The case was adjourned to February 6.

In the 2019 order, which was passed on a public interest litigation filed by Chidambaram, the court had noted that bio medical wastes are transported from Kerala into Tirunelveli district ‘without any kind of check’. 

It was only when the situation had become abnormal, the police and the district administration took up the cause, the court had observed and had issued directions to the district collector and the district level biomedical waste management committee to ensure that biomedical wastes are not dumped in the district.