In the instant matter, the petitioner preferred a public interest writ petition (PIL) seeking direction from the Court to address the complaint dated 06-06-2023, regarding the restoration of the water body adjacent and surrounding Platform No. 4 at Baruipur Railway Station, Eastern Railway. The petitioner alleges that the water body has been partially closed due to the dumping of garbage.
The Divisional Engineer, Eastern Railway, Sealdah, acknowledged the issue and communicated the same on 02-01-2023 to the Convenor of Baruipur Jalasay Banchao Committee and requested for cleaning and maintenance of the water body, along with the removal of garbage from the backside of the said Platform. However, despite subsequent communications, the garbage is not removed.
The Court observed that the water body adjacent and surrounding the same Platform has indeed been partially closed due to the dumping of garbage. The Court further found that the Committee lacked statutory backing and government funds to carry out the necessary cleaning and maintenance operations.
The court directed that the responsibility of cleaning and maintaining the area be entrusted to Eastern Railway, with the cooperation of officials from the concerned district and for the effective implementation, ordered a joint inspection by officers from Eastern Railway, the District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas, the concerned Block Development Officer, officials from the Pollution Control Board, and the local municipality. The Court further directed that the joint inspection was to be conducted within three weeks from the date of receipt of the server copy of the court order. The Court held that the Eastern Railway is empowered to carry out the cleaning/maintenance operations after the identification of the specific area which required cleaning within two months from the date of the joint inspection.
The Court also directed the District Magistrate to initiate action against any private organization that was found responsible for the garbage dumping to recover the cost of cleaning/maintenance.
[Goutam Malik v. State of W.B., 2023 SCC OnLine Cal 2208, order dated 31-07-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. Debasis Sur, Mrs. Sikha P. Chowdhury, Mr. Goutam Sardar, Mr. Anujit Maity, Mr. Manabendranath Bandyopadhyay, Ms. Sarama Maity, Counsel for the Petitioner;
Mr. Samrat Sen, Ld. AAAG, Mr. Saikat Chatterjee, Ms. Manali Ali, Counsel for the Respondent/State;
Mr. Sayan Sinha, Mr. Adil Naser, Counsel for the Respondent No. 10 .
