HC suggests raising penalty, initiating criminal action on violators of garbage disposal rules

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has suggested that authorities in Bengaluru increase the penalty imposed on people who violate the Solid Waste Management Rules and take criminal action against them under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as the current penalty is inadequate to work as a deterrent.

Considering a report that showed that the city municipal corporation, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), had collected a penalty of only Rs11.66 crore from 3.84 lakh violators of the rules between 2019 and 2023, the high court said the penalty amount recovered from each violator is too small to work as a deterrent.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit was hearing a batch of 12 public interest litigations seeking effective management of waste generated in Bengaluru.

Apart from increasing the penalty, the HC suggested that “BBMP may also consider initiating penal action against violators taking recourse to appropriate provisions of IPC.”

The HC said, “If the apartment owners, flat owners or members of cooperative society are found to be violators, the respondent BBMP is required to take appropriate steps against the violators.”