KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Tuesday held that the inclusion of non-woven plastic carry bags in the list of banned single-use plastic items by the state government without regard to the grams per square metre (GSM) standards, specified in the central rules, is highly illegal and arbitrary.
Holding that such a ban violates the provisions of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, justice N Nagaresh set aside two government orders (of November 17th and 27th of 2019) and a circular (of January 27, 2020) issued by Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to the extent they ban the manufacture, transportation, sale, and use of non-woven bags of 60 GSM and above.
The court considered two petitions (WP-C Nos. 23089 and 24165 of 2022) filed by manufacturers of non-woven plastic carry bags. The court also held that the eligibility of the petitioners to manufacture non-woven bags shall be governed by the Plastic Waste Management Rules.
When the union government has set a minimum standard in GSM for manufacturing of non-woven bags, the state government cannot prescribe a different standard that would negate the rules framed by the union government, the court said. The union government had only banned non-woven plastic carry bags less than 60 GSM as per the rules.
Even though other states have also issued orders banning single-use plastics, it does not extend to non-woven bags of 60 GSM and above, the court pointed out. Therefore, the total prohibition of manufacturing of non-woven bags irrespective of the GSM standard of bags in Kerala is discriminatory, the court said.
While the PCB can specify more stringent standards with respect to specific industry or location after recording reasons in writing, the circular issued by the PCB does not specify any reason for imposing a more stringent standard, the court noted. Such a circular cannot stand the scrutiny of law, the judgment said.
