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Synopsis

Reiterating its earlier directions banning multiple plastic items in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats, the Madras High Court has now turned its focus to plugging the enforcement gaps that have allowed plastic waste to flood the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal despite a standing ban.

A division bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, hearing a long-standing public interest litigation, observed that while multiple court and government orders have already banned the use, sale, and transport of several categories of plastic products in the hills, implementation on the ground remains weak—especially at key entry points.

To tighten the noose, the court has now declared a ban on the manufacture, storage, supply, transport, sale, or distribution of listed items throughout the Western Ghats starting from the Nilgiris upto the Agathiyar Biosphere in Kanyakumari District, which includes the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal hill areas.

Furthermore, court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to issue a notification under Section 67(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act, adding a new permit condition prohibiting vehicles from carrying banned plastic items into the Western Ghats. This move will make the ban enforceable through transport laws, enabling authorities to suspend or cancel vehicle permits and seize violators under Section 207 of the Act.

Court noted that despite periodic inspections and fines, vehicles—especially tourist buses and vans—continue to smuggle in crates of PET bottles and other banned items. The bench stressed that vehicle owners, operators, and drivers must be held accountable for what is being transported, and that failure to comply should attract legal consequences.

To operationalize this, court directed the government to design a transport scheme that makes it mandatory for all vehicles entering the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal to undergo plastic checks at designated entry points like Mettupalayam and Kothagiri. If any of the banned items are found, the vehicle must be seized and proceedings initiated to cancel the permit.

"Unless responsibility is assigned to these vehicles transporting prohibited items, achieving the goal will be impossible," court observed.

The banned items, already listed under G.O.(Ms) No.84 of 2018 and reiterated in the court's previous orders, include PET bottles, plastic cutlery, thermocol plates and cups, water pouches, multilayered snack wrappers, and plastic-coated paper products, among others.

To support enforcement, court also ordered District Collectors and Forest Officials to install kiosks to collect used plastic and to ensure adequate access to potable water along hill routes to discourage the use of bottled water. Hotels and restaurants must provide RO drinking water, and shops along forest routes are prohibited from selling water or drinks in plastic packaging.

Recognizing that tourists are often unaware of the ban, the court instructed the government to launch widespread awareness campaigns in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka—states from which most visitors arrive.

Crucially, the court held that inconvenience to sellers or tourists cannot outweigh the environmental damage caused by plastics. It stressed that protecting the Western Ghats, a crucial biodiversity hotspot, is a constitutional duty—one that must be enforced not only through environmental laws but also via transport regulations.

Case Title: G.Subramania Koushik vs. The Principal Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu and Others