Latest news with #StatePollutionControlBoards
NDTV
30-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Top Court Deadline Close, Vacancies Abound In Pollution Control Boards
New Delhi: Despite the Supreme Court order that all positions in State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees be filled by September 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change has expressed concern about the large number of open positions in these bodies even now. In response to a parliamentary question, Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh listed several procedural and structural causes for the ongoing staff shortages that have been cited by state boards and committees. "Recruitment Rules and Service Rules are in process or pending for approval. In many cases, there have been delays in sanctioning staffing patterns or upgrading posts," Mr Singh noted in a written reply. "Other issues include court cases affecting recruitment, state bifurcation, and even new recruits refusing to join," he added. The list of reasons also included suggestions to eliminate or give up some positions completely, the inability to recruit applicants for deputation positions, and the lack of qualified applicants in feeder cadres. Mr Singh explained that the rules created by the individual State Boards and Committees control appointments to these regulatory bodies. "These organisations are under the administrative jurisdiction of their respective State Governments or Union Territory Administrations... They are ultimately responsible for filling vacancies," he said. The Centre hasn't been passive, though. "We have reminded all State Governments and UT Administrations to fill the vacancies as soon as possible," he said. Following the Supreme Court's order in the lengthy environmental litigation case MC Mehta vs Union of India, the urgency has increased. In an order dated May 8, the top court has said that all SPCB and PCC vacancies should be filled by September 30.
News18
28-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Why Are India's Pollution Control Boards Still Understaffed? Issue Raised In Parliament Again
Last Updated: According to the Centre, the appointment of employees in the State Boards and Pollution Control Committees are made by their respective boards and committees, and under their rules As recruitment bottlenecks continue to impair India's key pollution monitoring agencies, the issue of understaffing and huge vacancies in State Pollution Control Boards was once again raised in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The issue has persisted for several years with legislators from states including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu highlighting that over 50 per cent posts are vacant in the Pollution Control Boards across all states and union territories. Responding to questions on Monday, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh attributed the vacancies to multiple recruitment bottlenecks, including pending approval of service rules, delays in sanctioning staffing patterns, re-structuring or upgradation of posts, changes in recruitment policies and abolition of certain posts. 'Several Court cases/proceedings also have a bearing on recruitment and promotions," said Singh. Furthermore, he said that many new recruits are not joining the departments due to different reasons. 'No applications received for deputation posts, and no suitable candidates found in feeder grade. There are also no eligible candidates in the feeder cadre for promotional posts," he added. In March, the government had told Parliament, that as many as 5,351 posts are vacant across all state pollution control boards with as many as 339 in Uttar Pradesh alone. The issue was also brought to the attention of the Supreme Court earlier this year during a writ petition, when it directed all the State Pollution Control Boards and Committees to ensure that all the vacancies are filled by the end of September. Tasked with implementation of environmental laws across the country, the state pollution control Boards (SPCBs) have a very important role in enforcement of provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. However, the manpower shortage has impeded action on the ground, say experts, as the agencies are required to monitor and take steps to abate the rising pollution levels. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The Hindu
29-04-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
A powerful judicial remedy for waste management
India is the biggest plastic polluter in the world, according to a new study published in Nature, releasing 9.3 million tonnes (Mt) annually. This is equivalent to around a fifth of global plastic emission. Plastic emissions, according to this study, are defined as material (which includes both debris and open plastic burning) that has moved from managed or mismanaged systems (in which waste is subject to a form of control, however basic contained state) to the unmanaged system (the environment; uncontained state) with no control. Evidence of an underestimation The report goes on to say that India reports that its dumpsites (uncontrolled land disposal) outnumber sanitary landfills by 10:1 and, despite the claim that there is a national collection coverage of 95%, there is evidence that official statistics do not include rural areas, open burning of uncollected waste or waste recycled by the informal sector. This means that India's official plastic waste generation rate (approximately 0.12 kilograms per capita per day (kg cap−1 day−1) is probably underestimated and waste collection overestimated. According to this study, the plastic waste generation rate for India of 0.54 kg cap−1 day−1. The alarming situation vis-à-vis plastic waste in the Indian Himalayan Region was highlighted in an Opinion page article in this daily, 'Mountains of plastic are choking the Himalayan States' (March 4, 2024). A salient point was the lack of data regarding the quantum and the quality of waste and the capacity to deal with plastic waste in this region. Waste generation data regarding the total solid waste and plastic waste in the country is given in the Central Pollution Control Board's annual reports on implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 and based on data supplied by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) or Pollution Control Committees (PCC). In turn, these are based on data supplied by the municipal bodies in the respective States/Union Territories. There is nothing in any of the reports regarding the methodology adopted by SPCBs or PCCs or municipal bodies or any waste audit which explains how the figures have been arrived at. It is important that the methodology employed by whatever agency that is gathering the data is put out in the public domain and faces third party scrutiny so that the systems we create or propose to create for waste management are commensurate with the quantity and the nature of the waste that needs managing and processing. There is no accounting of waste being generated in rural India it seems, which comes under panchayati raj institutions, and also for a vast stretch of the country which does not come under the jurisdiction of any institutions of local self-governance. The Supreme Court of India has observed that environmental protection is not only a regulatory obligation but also a constitutional imperative aimed at safeguarding the fundamental rights of individuals and preserving ecological balance. There is an urgent need that we have cogent, reliable data about waste generation and its composition in the country. We also need to have data regarding the infrastructure that the country has built over the years to deal with the management and processing of this waste. This infrastructure could be geotagged to help in tracking. Every local government, whether in an urban or in rural area (they are the pivot of waste management as in the legal mandate in the country), has to be mandatorily linked with a material recovery facility (MRF), recyclers of various waste streams, extended producer responsibility (EPR) kiosks and sanitary landfills. To operationalise EPR, all producers, importers, and brand owners (PIBOs) that have a legal obligation collectively can form kiosks across the country to gather waste from all local bodies. These kiosks could be set up depending on the quantum of waste expected, the geography of the area, and ease of access to these kiosks and other relevant factors. This is so that every urban and rural local body in the country has easy access to these kiosks where all waste that is covered under EPR can be deposited. PIBOs can employ people to segregate their waste at such kiosks so that various segments of waste can be taken care of according to the mandate of the law. This is not a simple exercise. But it is not not impossible either if there is a plan. We need to know how much waste is being generated where and how it is being managed. As India is a technology powerhouse, it is time that we leverage this to solve our problems and set an example for the world. Court verdict on tanneries On January 31, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court gave a very heartening verdict in the form of continuing mandamus to ensure that the pollution caused by tanneries in Vellore of Tamil Nadu is reversed by employing necessary remediation programmes. The Court has constituted a committee that needs to report in four months on the compliance of the order. The Court itself has justified the need to ensure compliance. The Bench said, 'violations occur while various Supreme Court directives and environmental norms are flouted, and the schemes or plans framed by the Government remain on paper, failing to achieve any meaningful results. Thus, this Court, being the custodian of fundamental rights, must come to the rescue of the affected individuals/families and ensure that persistent wrongs are rectified and justice is actually done'. It is absolutely imperative that constitutional courts in India adopt this approach and deal with matters of waste management in the same spirit. Justice will only be done in these matters when compliance with orders is ensured in a time-bound manner. Focus on the polluter The Court in the same matter reiterated that 'the polluter pays principle' casts absolute liability on the polluter for the harm caused to the environment and extends not only to compensate the victims of pollution but also the cost of restoring the environmental degradation. Remediation of the damaged environment is part of the process of sustainable development, and such a polluter is liable to pay the cost to the individual sufferers as well as the cost of reversing damaged ecology. The Court has held that when there is a violation in compliance with the environmental laws (be it a result of engaging in activities directly involved in causing pollution or from a failure to take steps to curb pollution and restore the environment or violating any terms of licence granted by any State or central authority and acts detrimental to the environment, the effect of which causes or is likely to cause degradation of the environment), then the deeming fiction of polluting the environment becomes applicable. The polluter is not only liable to payment of compensation but has also to restore the environment. Therefore, while the liability is clear, the process of determining an equitable compensation amount is fraught with challenges, as it must account for both the tangible and intangible damage inflicted on the environment and the affected communities. In this matter the Court applied the Government Pay Principle, and it is for the government to pay compensation to the affected individuals/families and recover the same from the polluters, until the damage caused to the ecology is fully reversed. It is time that the waste management system in the country is also held accountable to millions whose health is impacted by the land, water and air pollution caused by unmanaged and mismanaged waste all across the country. In fact, continuing mandamus could be the way forward to deal with pressing environmental issues to ensure compliance. Archana Vaidya is an environment law consultant and an advocate at the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, at Shimla
