HC upholds Delhi's plastic bags ban

The Delhi high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by plastic manufacturers and upheld the Delhi government's ban on plastic bags in certain locations under the Environment Protection Act.

A division bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and A K Pathak dismissed the plea of the All India Plastic Manufacturers' Association challenging the government notification on the ground that they were not consulted before bringing it into force.

The Delhi government banned the use of plastic bags in shopping malls, five star hotels, restaurants, dairies, fruits and vegetable outlets on 7 January. The ban followed an earlier high court order, based on the Justice Chopra committee report, that plastic bags of less than 40 micron thickness be banned. The court, however, made it clear that the government can allow plastic bags of 40 microns or more.

Upholding the government notification, the judges observed, "Merely because some commercial interests of the petitioners are diluted it does not mean that there is no public interest in issuing the impugned notification. We find no good reason to strike down the notification.''
Counsel for the petitioners had contended that the business of the petitioners had come to a standstill because of the notification and termed it an arbitrary measure, violating their fundamental right to trade and business.

Disagreeing with the petitioners, the court noted, "We are unable to understand how this is possible. The manufacturing of plastic bags has not been prohibited by the respondents. At best, the manufacturing activity of the petitioners would have been reduced or their quantum of sales would have decreased but that is not sufficient to invalidate the impugned notification.''

The high court said all that the ban sought to achieve was a prohibition on the use, sale and storage of plastic bags in certain locations within Delhi. It was not as if there was a blanket ban on the use, sale or storage of all kinds of plastic bags, it said.

"It is clear that the limitation on the sale, use and storage of plastic bags in certain areas in Delhi has been laid down keeping in view the problem of solid waste management, particularly of plastic bags, which choke drains and enter the food chain thereby potentially causing health risks,'' the HC bench noted.

The judgement is more significant because just last week, minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh had said in parliament that plastic bags should not be banned. He had also called for proper management of solid waste. Disagreeing with the union minister, the Delhi government issued its first challans for plastic bag violators soon after Ramesh's statement.