Arun Sarkar vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Ramesh Ranganathan, CJ

Heard Mr. M.K. Ray, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. C.S. Rawat, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand

and Ms. Soniya Chawla, learned Standing Counsel for the Nagar Panchayat, Dineshpur and, with their consent, the Writ Petition is disposed of at the

stage of admission.

The petitioner has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court seeking a mandamus directing the respondents to shift the Trenching Ground to an area far

from Ward No. 9 in Dineshpur, so that the health of the public at large in the Nagar Panchayat Dineshpur may not be adversely affected due to the

aforesaid garbage dumping activities.

The dumping yard, shifting of which the petitioner seeks in the present Writ Petition, is located on land which the Dineshpur Nagar Panchayat had

purchased solely for the purpose of the dumping garbage generated from within the territorial limits of the said Nagar Panchayat. Several

representations are now being made by residents of different Gram Panchayats/Nagar Panchayats demanding that the garbage, generated within the

territorial limits of the concerned Gram Panchayat/Nagar Panchayat, be dumped beyond its territorial limits so that they are not, in any manner,

affected by the garbage dumping activities. The relief which the petitioner seeks is that the garbage/waste generated by residents of Dineshpur Nagar

Panchayat be dumped outside the territorial limits of their Nagar Panchayat so that they do not suffer from the adverse effects of such garbage being

disposed within the Nagar Panchayat. What they conveniently omit to state is that, if the garbage generated by residents of the Dineshpur Nagar

Panchayat were to be dumped elsewhere, then those residing at places, nearby the new garbage dumping yard, would suffer from health problems for

no fault of theirs. Accepting the petitioner’s submission would require this Court to permit residents of Dineshpur Nagar Panchayat to continue

generating waste, and yet avoid the burden of its disposal within the territorial limits of their Nagar Panchayat and for some other Gram Panchayat to

suffer the consequences.

Mindless consumption, and avoidable ostentation, is the primary cause of huge generation of garbage/waste. It is the responsibility of each and

every resident of a particular Gram Panchayat/Nagar Panchayat to minimize generation of waste so that it does not reach monumental proportions,

thereby rendering disposal of such waste a herculean task. In any view of the matter garbage/waste generated by residents of a particular Gram

Panchayat/Nagar Panchayat must necessarily be dumped within their territorial limits and not beyond, for that would mean that, for the mindless

generation of waste by a particular Gram Panchayat/Nagar Panchayat, they should not be made to suffer, and instead the adverse effects, of dumping

of garbage elsewhere must be faced by those living nearby, though they have not generated the garbage/waste.

While we see no reason to entertain this Writ Petition, Mr. M.K. Ray, learned counsel for the petitioner, would state that, instead of the present

place, the Dinespur Nagar Panchayat may be directed to identify some other area, within its territorial limits, for disposal of garbage.

Suffice it, in such circumstances, to permit the petitioner to identify other locations which, according to him, are more suitable for dumping garbage,

and for its use as a dumping yard. We have no reason to doubt that, on the petitioner identifying other areas within the territorial limits of Dineshpur

Nagar Panchayat and on his making a representation in this regard, respondents 3 and 4 shall give such a representation its due consideration and, if

need be, take action in accordance with law.

Subject to the aforesaid observations, the Writ Petition fails and is, accordingly, dismissed. No costs.