Brahmapuram Fire: NGT slaps ₹100 crore fine on Kochi Corporation, says utter failure by State of Kerala

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday imposed a fine of ₹100 crore on the Kochi Corporation in a suo motu case initiated by it on the basis of news reports regarding the fire that recently broke out at the Brahmapuram waste dump at the edge of Kochi city [In re: news item published in The Hindu dated 06.03.2023 titled “Kochi chokes as fire at waste dump still rages; govt. asks people to stay indoors”].A bench of Justices AK Goel, Sudhir Agarwal and expert member Dr. A Senthil Vel opined that the State government and its authorities completely neglected their duties with regard to solid waste management which led to the fire. "State of Kerala and its authorities have been utter failure and have rampantly violated the statutory solid waste management rules and orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court," the NGT order stated.However, no accountability has been fixed for this failure so far, the bench noted."Except for giving future plans, no fixing of accountability is proposed even now which is matter of regret. No prosecution has been launched against the guilty for criminal offences under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and also under relevant provisions of IPC nor action taken for violation of orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court and repeated orders of this Tribunal in proceedings transferred to the Tribunal by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Such attitude of State authorities is threat to rule of law. We hope the situation is remedied at the higher level in the State such as the DGP and the Chief Secretary to uphold the Constitution and the mandate of environmental law," the NGT said. .In light of what it considered to be long standing neglect on the part of the Kochi Corporation, the NGT imposed ₹100 crore fine on Kochi Corporation to be deposited with the Chief Secretary, Kerala within one month for necessary remediation measures, including dealing with the public health issues of the victims. Moreover, it directed the Chief Secretary, Kerala, to expeditiously fix the accountability for the neglect on the concerned officers."Apart from above, we direct the Chief Secretary, Kerala to fix accountability of concerned officers for such gross failures and initiate action under criminal law as well as by way of departmental proceedings, following due process and place the same in public domain within two months" the order said..The order was issued on a case taken up by the NGT suo motu based on a news report on The Hindu regarding the fire and the resultant smog that choked Kochi city's residents for well over a week. .The NGT stated at the outset that this present order was without prejudice to the proceedings before the High Court and would be subject to its outcome. It then noted that the Kerala High Court had recently vacated the stay on an older NGT order levying ₹1 crore fine on the corporation.On going through other orders the NGT itself had issued and those issued by the Supreme Court regarding solid waste management, the NGT opined that good governance in the matter of waste management has been neglected for long time to the detriment of the environment and public health."... no one has taken moral responsibility for such gross failure of rule of law and damage to public health. It is difficult to understand what is the value of citizen’s right to life and safety with such attitude of total neglect by authorities in Government. This calls for soul searching and also high level enquiry to determine culpability in larger public interest," the order stated..[Read Order]