HC stays STP rule for old apartments

The high court stayed the implementation  of the BWSSB regulation that mandates the installation of sewage treatment plants and dual piping systems in existing buildings with 50 or more apartments.

Justice A S Bopanna passed the interim order while hearing a batch of petitions filed by the Raheja Residency Apartment Owners' apex body and 12 other petitioners, comprising various apartment owners' associations in the city.

The bench observed that the structural integrity of the buildings has to be taken into account as most of them are nearly 10 to  30 years old.

According to the petitioners, the regulation is illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional.

The petition states that the regulation violates the directions issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, wherein it is the responsibility of the urban and local bodies to set up a system for sewage and waste disposal of the local area.

The petitioners stated that the BWSSB is passing on this responsibility to the citizens. The  regulation is made applicable retrospectively to existing residential buildings without taking into account the non-feasibility to implement it, given its weak infrastructural integrity, they said.  

The petitioners also stated that given the age of the buildings, it is not structurally safe to re-do the piping in the apartments. The decade-old buildings may not bear the weight of the additional infrastructure to be installed. The  petitioner also argued that the BWSSB has overlooked that a period of five years was given by the CPCB to the existing STPs to comply with the new standards.

DH News Service