Uttar Pradesh Plastic and Other Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Regulation of Use and Disposal) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 (“Ordinance”) has been introduced to amend the Uttar Pradesh Plastic and Other Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Regulation of Use and Disposal) Act, 2000.
The Ordinance has been published on 15th July, 2018.
The Governor of Uttar Pradesh has promulgated this Ordinance to curb the use of plastic with immediate effect, since the State Legislature is not session.
Key Highlights of the Ordinance:
- The words ‘regulation of use and disposal’ is dropped from the long title and the Act is renamed as ‘Uttar Pradesh Plastic and Other Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Regulation) Act, 2000’.
- The Ordinance makes a person handling non-biodegradable plastic, liable, if he fails to provide necessary facilities / render assistance / willfully delays / obstructs any authorized persons who are required to carry out the functions with respect to inspection under the Ordinance.
- The Principal Act categorized the prohibition on use of certain types of plastic. The Ordinance is substituting the provision and giving powers to the State Government to impose restrictions or prohibit on the use, manufacture, sale, distribution, storage, transport, import or export of plastic or other on-biodegradable material / it’s like as it thinks fit within the State.
- The Ordinance impacts the penalty provisions of the Principal Act. In one of the amendment, while the Principal Act only covered punishment for contravening, abetting the contravention of both the categories of plastic usage under Section 7, the Ordinance is dividing the penalty provisions in two broad categories as per a revised Section 7:
- Use / abetting the use of plastic against the order of the State Government;
- Manufacture, sale, distribution, storage, transport, import or export / abetting the aforesaid activities.
On the other hand, there has been a change in penalty for “Prohibition to throw non-biodegradable garbage in public drains and sewage system” (Section 3). The penalty in this case has been enhanced as follows:
- For First conviction- A Fine of Rs. 500/- has been enhanced upto Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 25,000/- and
- For Second conviction- An imprisonment of 1 month has been not been enhanced, but the Fine of Rs. 2,000/- has been enhanced upto Rs. 5000/- to Rs. 50,000/-.
For ease of understanding, we have tabulated the amended penalty for your reference:
| Activity | Fine for violation | Imprisonment | ||
| For First Offence | For Second or Subsequent Offence | For First Offence | For Second or Subsequent Offence | |
| Usage or abets the usage of plastic | Rs. 1000 to Rs 10,000 | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25,000 | 1 month | 6 months |
| Manufactures, sales, distributes, stores, transports, imports or exports or abets the Manufacturing, sale, distribution, storing, transport, import or export | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000 | Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 | Extending upto 6 months | Extending upto 1 year |
| Throws non-biodegradable garbage in public drains and sewage system or abets the throwing of non-biodegradable garbage in public drains and sewage system | Rs. 1000 to Rs. 25,000 | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 50,000 |
|
May extend upto 1 month |
5. The Schedule covering the list of Plastic items has now been renamed as ‘Plastic and Other Non-Biodegradable material’, which was earlier named as ‘Plastic’. Also, Ordinance includes ‘Thermocol’ as one of the items covered under the amended Schedule of the Principal Act.
Source: Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Department
