Plea in HC for effective bio-medical waste disposal

A PIL has been filed in Madras High Court seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu government for effective implementation of bio-medical waste management rules, saying the present situation posed health hazards to the public.
The bench comprising justices S K Kaul and M Sundar, before whom the PIL came up for hearing recently, issued notice to the state government.
Petitioner Dr J Umarani submitted that currently there was no authorized body or person to handle bio-medical waste in the state, resulting in failure to treat and dispose such wastes as per the provisions of Bio-Medical Waste Rules.
Though government pleader M.K.Subramanian submitted that a number of similar petitions have been filed before the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Chennai, which has issued appropriate guidelines, the court noted that the aspect relating to issuance of licences to treat Bio-Medical waste as substantive.

It directed the government pleader to file an affidavit explaining whether such licences had been issued and if so, to whomwithin three weeks.
The petitioner claimed that the present situation posed a serious threat to the environment and resulted in health hazard to the public.