P&H HC Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Probe Into Allegedly Tampered Report By Chandigarh Municipal Corp Over Clearing Garbage Mountain

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has issued notice on a plea seeking investigation on Chandigarh Municipal Corporation's allegedly tampered report submitted in a PIL filed for clearing garbage mountain in the City's Dadu Majra.

A division bench of Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji issued notice and posted the matter to March 20.

It has been alleged that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by the Municipal Corporation which was prepared by an IIT Professor for clearing the garbage dump was tampered with more than "150 handwritten" changes on financial estimates and allegedly the alteration amounts to crores of rupees.

"The DPR deviated from the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and also from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Waste Management Manual," the plea adds.

Advocate Amit Sharma has moved the Court under Section 151 of CPC to investigate the submission of Municipal Corporation on the allegedly tampered detailed project report, which was stated to have been filed for giving a solution for clearing garbage mountain.

It has also been alleged that the IIT professor whose report was submitted by the Municipal Corporation, has expertise in electrical engineering, which is not civil engineering, as required for the waste management plan.

The report was submitted in the PIL filed for clearing the garbage dump in Chandigarh's Dadu Majra in 2021.

The PIL seeks directions on the Municipal Corporation and other state authorities to end "air pollution and frequent fires that release toxins in the air that stated to have been impacting the health of over "50,000 people in the vicinity."

Sharma had contended in the plea that "crores were spent on study tours by our officers and politicians to learn about waste management...Despite all these study tours and education about Waste Management, the Solid Waste Management Rules have been continuously flouted by the Municipal Corporation."

The matter will now be heard on March 20, for further consideration.

Title: Amit Sharma v. Municipal Corporation Chandigarh