CHENNAI : The Madras High Court has directed the Madhavaram Municipality to involve the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) in ensuring that its proposed dumping site, near Manali village, satisfied mandatory parameters. It also said no approval for layouts or construction be given for plots or sites in close proximity to the proposed site.

The First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru gave the directions on a public interest litigation petition filed by the Kilburn Nagar Welfare Association, seeking to restrain the Madhavaram Municipality from dumping and burning waste at a vacant site near Madhavaram village.

The court had appointed T. Mohan as Advocate Commissioner to visit the spot and submit recommendations.

When the matter came up for further hearing, the Municipality submitted that a seven-acre site at Sadaiyankuppam near Manali village in Tiruvallur district had been finalised as an alternative site.

Recording the submission, the Bench said the TNPCB could be involved in the "pre-land allotment/purchase process so that the suitability of the alternative site is verified, and it is ensured that the new site does not face problems and also meets the parameters required for a prospective landfill under the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000."

The Bench told the authorities to expedite the finalisation of the alternative site and clear the proposal within a period of three months. Until the new site becomes operational, the Municipality should follow the recommendations in the Advocate Commissioner's report.

The Bench directed the Municipality to constitute a local Environmental Monitoring Committee consisting of the Municipal Commissioner, the District Environmental Engineer and other municipal officers to monitor the compliance with the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000 as well as the directions of the court.

The petition said the compost yard near Kilburn Nagar was poromboke land with a fresh water pond 15 years back when Madhavaram Municipality converted it into a dumping yard. Originally conceived as a site for bio-degradable waste, the site was turned into a dumping yard for plastics, polythene and medical wastes from Madhavaram, Porur and Ambattur, it said.

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