Supreme Court slams Gurugram civic body over Bandhwari fires

Supreme Court concerns over fires at Gurugram's Bandhwari landfill; MCG directed to submit waste clearance timeline by May 15 amid pollution issues.

The Supreme Court on Friday expressed serious concern over the repeated fires at Gurugram’s Bandhwari landfill and directed the city’s municipal body to file a timeline for clearing 900,000 metric tonnes of legacy waste piled at the site.

Fire at a waste treatment plant on the Gurugram-Faridabad road near Bandhwari village on April 30. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka, hearing the broader issue of air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), ordered the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to submit an affidavit specifying the outer limit for removing the legacy waste.

Directing that a response in the matter be filed by May 15, the bench, which also comprised justice Ujjal Bhuyan, asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to consider issuing preventive orders under Section 12 of the CAQM Act.

Section 12 deals with the powers and functions of CAQM and empowers the commission to take measures and issue directions and entertain complaints, as it deems necessary or expedient, for the purpose of protecting and improving air quality in the NCR.

The fire at the Bandhwari landfill, which raged for four days earlier this month, was brought to the court’s attention by senior advocate Aparajita Singh, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the pollution matter.

In a note submitted to the court, Singh stated that a blanket of toxic fumes had engulfed nearby areas and that flames continued to be spotted at various locations on the landfill even after the fire was declared doused.

Terming the situation “shocking”, the bench sought a detailed response from MCG.

Singh’s note stated that the landfill receives 1,800 tonnes of waste daily from Gurugram and Faridabad, with 1.3 million metric tonnes of waste currently accumulated at the site, of which 900,000 tonnes is legacy waste. She said that two fires had already been reported at the landfill in April 2025 alone, significantly degrading air quality for nearby residents.

She further pointed out that two private companies contracted to manage waste clearance had been penalised following the recent fires, but enforcement remains weak. The incidents, Singh said, underscore larger failures in the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, currently under consideration by the top court.

She added that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also passed multiple orders regarding the Bandhwari site. In April 2024, a series of fires prompted the NGT to take suo motu cognisance of the issue. Investigations then revealed that nine fires had occurred at the site in that year alone.

Citing the public’s right to clean air, Singh urged the court to direct CAQM to file a compliance report on steps taken by the Gurugram civic body in line with the NGT’s orders and the 2022 Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines. She also requested that the municipal commissioner be ordered to explain the repeated outbreaks of fire and the reasons for failing to prevent them.

The case will next be heard after May 15, by when the Gurugram civic body must file its response.