Overview
- The rules take effect on April 1, with the court affirming a clean and healthy environment as an element of the right to life.
- District collectors are authorized to audit infrastructure, oversee municipal and rural bodies, require photographic proof of progress, escalate breaches, and ensure each local body sets an outer time-limit for full compliance.
- Pollution control boards must identify and fast-track infrastructure for four-stream segregation covering wet, dry, sanitary and special care waste, with bulk generators required to be fully compliant by March 31.
- Councillors, mayors, chairpersons, corporators and ward members are designated as lead facilitators for source-segregation education and tasked with enrolling every resident in implementation.
- Education and awareness steps include adding solid-waste practices to school curricula and translating rule summaries into local languages, alongside tougher enforcement with immediate fines, potential criminal prosecution and possible mobile courts.