MCD cannot assert right to manage solid waste in Airport Zone: Delhi HC

New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) cannot assert its right to manage solid waste generated in the Airport Zone, including Aerocity, the Delhi High Court has held.

The court passed the order while allowing a petition by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which challenged the inclusion of the Airport Site (comprising airport terminals, Aerocity, etc.) in an MCD tender notice of November 28, 2024.

Solid waste management is not listed as an obligatory or discretionary obligations of the MCD under the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act and no other law for the time being in force has been shown on behalf of the MCD, which suggests that solid waste management is the exclusive domain and function of the civic body, the court said.

"Even assuming that solid waste management is a residual function, it cannot be heard to say that it is an exclusive right so as to oust all other bodies/entities to perform this function, when entitled under other statutory regimes," the court observed.

"Thus the inevitable conclusion is that while MCD may be performing the function of solid waste management in the municipal area, as defined in the DMC Act and may continue to do so, but in so far as the Airport Site is concerned, MCD cannot assert its right to manage the solid waste," Justice Jyoti Singh said in a judgment passed on September 11 and made available on the court's website on Monday.

The MCD, through a tender notice, had invited bids for the selection of an agency for setting up of a materials recovery facility for management of dry solid waste in the Najafgarh zone on a public-private partnership on a design, build, finance, operate, and transfer basis.

DIAL sought for a direction to the MCD to exclude the Airport Zone from its tender notice.

DIAL argued that it has been exclusively entrusted with the responsibility of solid waste management at the Indira Gandhi International Airport under its Operation, Management, and Development Agreement with the Airports Authority of India and has been performing this function since 2007.

DIAL contended it was exclusively carry out solid waste management at the Airpost Site according to the the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

However, the MCD said that it is the sole local body entrusted with the function of solid waste management in Delhi, including at the Airport Site, and that the monetisation of the solid waste at the site is its exclusive right.

While allowing DIAL's plea, quashed the MCD's tender notice which also brought Aerocity under its ambit. PTI SKV OZ OZ