The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Bench issues directions to resolve dispute over hazardous waste

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Bench issues directions to resolve dispute over hazardous waste

Mohamed Imranullah S.

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has issued directions to resolve a dispute over disposing of 875 tonnes of “hazardous municipal waste,” lying in a container terminal of the Tuticorin port.

The garbage was part of 25,000 tonnes of waste paper imported by ITC Limited (paper boards division), Secunderabad, from Evergreen Specialties of New Jersey, United States, in September 2005.

Disposing of a writ petition filed by a company, which had rented out the containers, Justice V. Ramasubramanian pointed out that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials had opined that a committee of experts from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, NCL, Pune, and others could be constituted to assess the presence of microbial toxins in the consignment.

He directed the Commissioner of Customs to arrange for an analysis as suggested by the CPCB. The cargo should be sent back to the U.S. or any other country if the experts committee concluded that the garbage was hazardous. Otherwise, it could be disposed of locally, subject to the conditions imposed by the committee. The exercise should be completed in three months and the cost of analysis, incineration and such other expenses should be borne by ITC Limited.

He directed that the analysis should be carried out after transferring the cargo to the Customs Bonded Warehouse to allow the petitioner company to take back the 35 containers it had rented out.

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