HC rebuffs firm's bid to open waste containers from US

The Madras High Court has yet again refused to permit opening of about 35 containers of municipal garbage/waste' from the U.S, saying it would pose danger to land and water. The matter relates to the import of 40 containers of waste paper' by the ITC Limited through the Evergreen Specialities Inc. from the U.S in August 2005. In September 2005, customs officials found that waste paper was mixed with used plastic carry bags, pet bottles, used clothes, shoes and other household articles with leaking dirty liquid and emitting foul smell. The consignment was then declared as municipal waste and as a "hazardous waste having characteristics of eco-toxic and infectious substances," to be dealt with under the provisions of the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules 1989. When a show-cause notice was issued to the ITC, it said the material had been sent in contravention of their order conditions and sought permission to re-export the consignment. They then rented enough containers, stuffed the materials and exported them to United Arab Emirates, which rejected the consignment and turned it back to Tuticorin. When a permission was sought to de-stuff the consignment and segregate them locally, so as to separate plastic wastes for disposal, the High Court had dismissed the proposal. Now, nearly four years after it all started, a new petition to review the court ruling was filed in the Madras High Court, claiming that new materials had come to light. A division bench comprising justice Elipe Dharma Rao and justice R Subbiah, dismissing the review application, said it was the transporting company's "cunning business tactic" and that it could not be permitted. "Had this business tactic and cunning intention to segregate and dispose of the municipal waste at Tuticorin Port was permitted by this court, it would have posed a dangerous threat of pollution to our land and water," the judges observed. Noting that the new materials placed before the court were nothing but communications on de-stuffing the contents and re-exporting them, the judges said it was a plot to get over the earlier observations of the court. The judges said review could not be an appeal in disguise, and dismissed it.

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