HC to govts: Respond to plea for action against plastics makers

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Union and State governments to respond to a petition seeking a stay on taking strict action against plastics manufacturing companies that have not registered with the Central Pollution Control Board.
In the affidavit filed by the association, it was said that the situation in Tamil Nadu has worked to the benefit of plastics manufacturers from other states, as they could easily obtain the Extended Producers’ Responsibility (EPR) authorisation from the Central Pollution Control Board due to the Tamil Nadu government’s refusal to provide ‘consent to operate’ certificates after the imposition of the plastics ban.
During the hearing, counsel R Saravanakumar representing the petitioner submitted that the State government had issued an order on June 25, 2018, imposing a blanket ban on single-use plastics such as carry bags, flags, food wrapping sheets, dining table spreads, plates, tea cups, tumblers, water pouches and straws and the said GO was upheld by the High Court on December 27, 2018 with a direction to consider banning exempted plastic products too. “While the association filed a review petition against the court order, and when it was pending adjudication, another GO was issued on June 5, 2020 imposing a blanket ban on several other plastics products including packets used for selling milk and milk products, biscuits, oil, shampoo and other such goods that come packed in plastic pouches, wrappers and packets from manufacturing facilities,” he said.
The Union government had now come up with a new concept of EPR which placed the onus of reuse of plastics on manufacturers themselves. But the manufacturers in the state were unable to obtain EPR authorisation since it was mandatory to submit a ‘consent to operate’ certificate which was not being issued in Tamil Nadu,” he added. Therefore, the counsel requested the court that the deadline set by the CPCB should be extended and a stay should be imposed from taking strict action against non-registered companies. Observing this, a division bench comprising Justices VM Velumani and V Lakshminarayanan directed the Union and State governments to respond to a petition by June 8.