Chief secretary's report irks Patna HC

PATNA: The Patna high court on Wednesday took a dim view of the chief secretary's report being silent over compliance with the court order for taking punitive action against the officials concerned of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPB) for not taking measures to check pollution caused by a printing press adjacent to New Era School in Deedarganj locality here.
A division bench comprising Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Shivaji Pandey stated that the chief secretary's report was wanting, casual and not acceptable as he was directed by the court to hold an inquiry into the manner of functioning of State Pollution Control Board, whose officers had taken a clear stand before the court on affidavit that they were under no obligation to perform statutory duties (for pollution control) unless there were court orders.
On Wednesday, standing counsel Arvind Ujjwal submitted before the court the report of the chief secretary, which stated that there was paucity of staff to meet the growing responsibilities of the board.
Justice Sinha remarked that the report of the chief secretary was 'shocking'. Counsel of New Era School, Ajay Kumar, submitted that despite the order of the court and the inquiry made by the chief secretary on the basis of which he had filed a report before the court, the printing press continued to be run adjacent to the school causing air and sound pollution.
The court directed that the PIL would be heard with four more PILs raising environmental concerns and board's failure of taking pollution control measures. The judges remarked that in a case regarding pollution caused due to road construction department running a hot-mix plant at a residential locality in Motihari (East Champaran district), State Pollution Control Board officers had closed the hot-mix plant on the court order, but filed criminal case against the concerned RCD official in Patna, and not at Motihari.
Chief secretary Ashok Kumar Sinha, in his report before the court stated that there was huge scope of improvement in the working of the State Pollution Control Board, as its responsibilities had increased due to increasing numbers of specialized legislations. The board had not been able to increase its resources, both physical and human, the report added.