Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the BMC to submit names of ward officers and officers on field responsible for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness, who can be held accountable for garbage dumped on public streets and open spaces.“Enough is enough. The moment we get a complaint, we’ll hold the particular officer responsible and ensure he is not there in public service,’’ said Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale while hearing a petition by Kannamwar Nagar CHS regarding odour from Kanjurmarg dumping ground.In recent hearings, HC flagged total non-compliance by BMC in clearing trash, waste, litter on public streets. The judges said “ward officers are not functioning properly.” Referring to a photograph, Justice Kulkarni told senior advocate Anil Sakhare, for BMC, “This is Dadar. We’ll provide you with entire Mumbai (photographs), if your commissioner is not aware about it.”The judges said it appears that BMC’s assurances “were paper assurances.” “There is no alternative but to direct the municipal commissioner to put the house in order and fix accountability” on officers who are not taking action to prevent dumping of waste on public streets. They directed an SOP to be placed at the next hearing.They also said BMC will have to strictly implement Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, that casts duties on urban local bodies. “We always want Bombay (sic) corporation to be a model corporation. It is not happening… Segregation is going to have more importance in the coming times…festival times. Otherwise it will be chaotic,’’ said Justice Kulkarni. The judges also said, “the problem is there is a mental block with all citizens” and “wherever there is open space, streets, they dump waste.”They directed expeditious appointment of a task force for implementing the Rules. Citing the example of Singapore, which imposes heavy fines on offenders, they said the state govt must come out with a “uniform policy.”Adjourning the hearing to Oct 7, the judges said BMC must issue “public sensitive” advertisements in newspapers and TV and also encourage social influencers to give messages to citizens not to throw garbage on public streets. “A sense of belonging of citizens needs to be inculcated,’’ said Justice Gokhale.
