MADURAI: Holding that the state government is duty bound to ensure proper disposal of hazardous wastes, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday directed the government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation each to two teenage boys, who suffered burn injuries after hazardous wastes dumped near a water body in Sivakasi accidentally exploded in July 2018.
The boys, who were then studying in Class X, had gone near the water body to attend nature's call. When they playfully threw stones at a pile of garbage dumped in the area, it suddenly exploded and the boys sustained severe burn injuries. Sivakasi East Police registered a case in this regard but closed it after a while, without tracing the persons who disposed of the hazardous wastes (suspected to have come from the local matchbox or cracker factories) on the spot. Seeking compensation, the boys' parents filed a petition in the High Court in 2019.
Though the government counsel argued that it was purely an accident, Justice GR Swaminathan, who heard the plea, fastened the liability on the state for failing in its duty to monitor the disposal of hazardous wastes. "The State is under a statutory obligation to ensure that hazardous substances are handled in such a manner that the general safety of the public is not endangered. This would include the duty to ensure that hazardous wastes are dealt with in a manner as prescribed by the Rules. In the case at hand, these rules have been brazenly breached," the judge observed.
To drive home this point, he referred to ancient texts like 'Manusmriti', 'Mahabharata', 'Sukra Neethi', 'Arthashastra' and 'Thirukkural', which emphasise the duty of a king to protect his subjects, and the modern legal provisions like Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920, Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The judge further criticised the police in that they merely investigated the manner in which the accident took place and closed the case without finding out who had dumped the waste. "In my view, the approach of the jurisdictional police reeks of laziness and indifference. The jurisdictional magistrate also ought to have rejected the final report and called upon the police to find out who was responsible for the dumping," he observed. Noting that a re-investigation would not yield any result at this stage, he said he expects that the authorities concerned would at least caution the investigation officers not to close such cases, which call for appropriate investigation, henceforth.
Considering the pain, disfiguration and irreparable loss suffered by the boys due to the incident, the judge directed Virudhunagar collector to pay them Rs 10 lakh compensation each within two months, adding that the said amount should be deposited in a nationalised bank in the boys' names as a fixed deposit to be withdrawn after five years. He also told the government to provide specialised medical treatment on a preferential basis to the boys, if they need it in the future.