Court fines Chandigarh MC ₹ 10k for delayed response on garbage plea
The court made it clear that the MC’s reply would only be considered after proof of payment is submitted at the next hearing
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the Chandigarh municipal corporation for seeking last-minute permission to respond to a plea regarding garbage removal from the Dadumajra dumping site. The court made it clear that the MC’s reply would only be considered after proof of payment is submitted at the next hearing.
Petitioner advocate Amit Sharma alleged that authorities misled the court to hide violations of solid waste management rules. He stated that while MC claimed to have cleared two garbage mounds, a third one had grown to over 2.40 lakh metric tonnes, contradicting official claims that no fresh waste was being dumped.
MC’s counsel argued that Sharma was relying on outdated data from 2016-2020 when an external contractor managed the site. However, Sharma countered that the blame game had persisted for years while the waste remained.
The case, pending since 2016, was merged with a PIL filed by Sharma in 2021. The court also noted delays in MC’s responses, including requests for more time to address allegations of forged documents.