Chennai: The Madras High Court today quashed a petition seeking the cancellation of a Government Order banning the sale and use of plastic products in Tamilnadu from 1 January 2019.
The order was issued when a PIL filed by the Tamilnadu and Puducherry Plastic Manufacturers Association came up for hearing before the vacation bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and P T Asha.
The government counsel said only one time usage plastics are banned. “Only 14 products such as straws, glasses, plates, water packets have been banned. Apart from this there are more than 100 plastic products which are sold,” the advocate argued.
After the hearing, the judges dismissed the petition and also directed the government to ban the exempted plastics in the future. The Plastics Manufacturers Association in its plea said the import of plastic has not been banned and manufacturing in the State alone has been restricted, which will affect the business of the local manufacturers.
It said there are close to 10 lakh employees who are directly and indirectly dependant on this business and also asked the government to lift the ban on recyclable plastics.
The GO banning plastic was issued on 25 June, after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami made an announcement on this regard on 25 June. The ban on plastics is welcomed by environmentalists and opposed by plastic manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar today said necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the usage of plastics will be reduced in the hospitals.
Similarly, Environment Minister K C Karupannan said alternate methods will be used to replace the plastics used for Amma water bottles.