HC asks BBMP to prescribe user fee for waste management

The High Court of Karnataka on Monday asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to formulate modalities for collecting user fee from waste generators as per the provisions of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit also suggested that the civic agency take penal action against violators.

The bench was hearing a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) seeking effective waste management.

The bench went through a memo filed by the BBMP which said that the user fee system would be implemented with the approval of the state government. Rule 15 (f) prescribes that an appropriate user fee be collected from waste generators, on its own or through an authorised agency.

"It is stated that the user fee system will be implemented with the approval of the state government. The relevant provision makes no such prescription or there is no such pre-requisite of obtaining permission of the government for the BBMP to start imposing the user fee. Accordingly, the BBMP may take appropriate steps as early as possible," the bench said.

The court asked the BBMP and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to explore digital platforms or FM channels for spreading awareness by giving a citizen-centric approach to the entire exercise. "One can't expect that it is only the responsibility or burden of other stakeholders such as BBMP or KSPCB.... The citizens are also required to act dutifully... and not commit such acts, leading to a hazardous situation in the city," the bench said.

The BBMP stated that between September 10, 2019 and August 31, 2023, an amount of Rs 11.66 crore was imposed upon 3.84 lakh violators. The bench said the BBMP may have to come up with an out-of-box approach by taking recourse to provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Merely imposing a penalty may not serve the purpose all the time, the court said, adding that "there requires an additional measure by way of a deterrence so that the violators may not commit the violation repeatedly or commit the act so casually" since the penalty is meagre.

Who must pay?

*User fee is applicable to all types of waste generators — from individual households to flat owners to commercial complexes (all those who dispose waste through BBMP garbage vans)

*Families living in slums will be exempted, said a senior BBMP official 

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