SHOAIB SHAIKH
shoaib@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Margao Municipal Council’s (MMC) garbage sentinel scheme has been launched without the government’s approval and experts claim it is illegal as the urban local body does not have the mandate for criminal action.
The scheme has been launched to punish people who dump garbage by the roadside or in open spaces in Margao. Under the scheme, the person providing the evidence in the form of a video clip will be paid Rs 1,000 while the offender will be fined Rs 5,000.
However, with the penalty in the form of a fine not being issued on the spot has led the scheme into troubled waters. The municipality has not sought the approval from the government before launching the scheme.
DMA View
Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) has not granted any approval for the scheme. Speaking to Herald, DMA Director Dr Tariq Thomas said that there has been no communication to the government regarding the scheme. “As far as the scheme is concerned, the municipality will be able to answer the questions. We have not given any approval for the scheme”, he added.
When asked if the municipality had sought their advice or the approval, he informed that no communication had been made with the DMA on the scheme.
Legal Standing
A senior lawyer on the condition of anonymity said that the municipalities do not have the powers to prosecute a citizen criminally. “The scheme involves prosecuting a person criminally and he will be fined for the crime, which has to be proved. Only police can investigate a crime and therefore there is no provision where the municipality can implement such a scheme,” he said.
Drawing parallels between the traffic sentinel and garbage sentinel schemes, he said that the former was launched by a crime investigating agency and therefore has the authority to issue the penalty.
When the Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Uday Madkaikar was asked to react to the garbage sentinel scheme, he called it illegal.
“As far as I know the scheme has not received government approval. The scheme is illegal”, he stated.
SWM Rules
The Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in April 2016 empowers the municipalities to execute penalty in form of spot fine for garbage litterers.
Under section 15, ‘Duties and responsibilities of local authorities and village Panchayats of census towns and urban agglomerations’, the SWM Rules state “The local authorities and panchayats shall frame bye-laws and prescribe criteria for levying of spot fine for persons who litters or fails to comply with the provisions of these rules and delegate powers to officers or local bodies to levy spot fines as per the bye laws framed.”
Incidentally, the Department of Science, Technology and Environment has handed over the duties of issuing challans for garbage littering to the Police Department. Police sources stated that a fine of Rs 100 is levied on those seen littering the place by throwing garbage and for creating nuisance by urinating in the open.
