The Madras High Court banned the production, storage, supply, transport, sale and distribution of 28 plastic products across the western Ghats in Tamil Nadu – from Nilgiris to Agasthiyar biosphere in the Kanniyakumari district – and showed that the ban would apply to all hilly stations, shrines and tiger reserves.
The Special Division of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy ordered the fines to be imposed on tourists who secretly transmit prohibited products to hilly stations. The court also ordered the authorities to confiscate motor vehicles that transport such prohibited products, except for the cancellation of the permit that was granted.
Forbidden products include plastic bottles with one used for water/juice consumption, plastic leaves/fitting film used for food packaging, plastic leaves used for dining table spread, plastic boards, plastic paper plates, plastic cover paper cups, plastic scarves, plastic traces and thermocol.
Plastic covered bags, non -woven bags, water pouches/packages, plastic straws, plastic flags, ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic transmitting bags of all sizes and thicknesses, candies with plastic sticks, ice creams with plastic sticks and polystyrene for decorations.
The divisional bench said that cutters such as plastic forks, plastic spoons, plastic knives, packaging or packaging of movies around sweet boxes, packaging or packaging of movies around invitations, packaging or packaging of movies around cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners and less than 100 microns and plastic mixing and fraudsters.
Block
The judges stated that in 2018 the state government imposed a public government on plastic with one use in the whole state and in 2019 ordered a ban on certain plastic on buses and other motor vehicles in Nilgirice and Kodaikanal.
The judges therefore ordered the State Government to provoke their powers under the Act on Motor Vehicles and impose a condition in transport permits, which clarified that these permits would be abolished if the vehicles were transported for banned plastic products and would entertain.
Regarding the sale of branded biscuits and refreshments sold in a non -regravable packaging, judges ordered that sellers at hopping stations have to be instructed to open these packages and hand over their content to customers made of paper or other biodegradable materials.
The provision of paper packaging
Local bodies were ordered to provide paper packaging to sellers without cost using the Green Fund. Collectors, local authorities and private companies must jointly come out with a plan for safe disposal of a multilayer not biodegradable packaging in dealers’ dealers, ordered the court.
“Not and Single Plastic Wrapper, Sachet, Or Packaging Material Can Be Strewn in the Nilgiris, Kodaikanal Hills, and the Entire Western Ghats” Faced in Collecting and Disc Materials.
The orders were handed over after the designs of amici Curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhamanaman.
The divisional bench ordered that drinking water machines must be carried out at all possible places at hilly stations and repeated containers of food, cups, tumors, tributaries and steel bottles must be made accessible to tourists by introducing a refundable deposit system through their own groups.
Mobile app
Tourists could also be provided by sets containing biodegradable materials and mobile applications could be developed to help tourists easily find the nearest water or kiosk station where they could obtain/return repeated containers and tourist trains.
They said that sellers at hilly stations must also be encouraged to ensure that their customers would not throw, and that the rules for the solid waste manager were monitored by letter and spirit. The judges decided to take other orders in this case on June 6, 2025 after the steps that the authorities had taken before.
Published – April 16 2025 14:08
