RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [2012] 6 S.C.R. 1039 · Decided: 30-07-2012 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR · Disposal: Disposed off
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2012] 6 S.C.R. 1039 
RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE, 
A 
TECHNOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
I.A. Nos. 61 & 62 of 2012 
~ 
B 
Writ Petition (C) No. 657 of 1995 
JULY 30, 2012 
[ALTAMAS KABIR AND J. CHELAMESWAR, JJ.] 
c 
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: 
Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 
1989- Writ petition challenging the Rules as unconstitutional 
and seeking direction to ban import of HazardOU$ wastes in 
0 
India and amendment of the Rules in conformity with the 
BASEL Convention and Articles 21, 47 and 48A of the 
' 
Constitution - During pendency of the petition, applications 
seeking permission of State Pollution Control Board and 
State Maritime Board to allow a ship (which had entered 
E 
territorial waters o( India) to beach for the purpose 'lJf 
dismantling - In the meantime disposal of the writ petition 
asserting the interim directions given in the writ petition from 
time to time with regard to handling of hazardous wastes and 
ship-breaking - Held: Since clearance has been given by 
State Pollution Control Board, State Maritime Board and 
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for the ship to beach for the 
purpose of dismantling, it is presumed that the ship is free 
from hazardous and toxic substances except the substances 
which might be part of the superstructure of the ship and could 
be exposed only at the time of its dismantling - Direction to 
G 
the authorities to allow the ship to beach and permit 
dismantling of the ship - Authorities concerned directed to 
take steps for disposal of the toxic wastes discovered during 
dismantling at the cost of the owner of the ship or its nominee/ 
F 
1039 
H 
1040 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2012] 6 S.C.R. 
A nominees - In all future cases of similar nature, the authorities 
concerned to strictly comply with the norms laid down in 
BASEL Convention or any other subsequent provisions 
adopted by the Central government - BASEL Convention. 
B 
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : I.A. Nos. 61 & 62 of 
2012. 
IN 
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 657 of 1995. 
c 
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. 
Ashok Bhan, T.S. Doabia, Raj Panjwani, Manjit Singh, Dr. 
Manish Singhvi, AAG, Sanjay Parikh, Sadhna Sandhu, B.K. 
Prasad, Hemantika Wahi, Jesal, Nandani Gupta, E.C. 
Agrawala, Vikas Bansal, Vibha Datta Makhija, Bijoy Kumar 
D Jain, Manish K. Bishnoi, Sunita Sharma, Kiran Bhardwaj, S.S. 
Rawat, Asha G. Nair, D.S. Mahra, Vijendra Kumar, Shaikh 
Chand Saheb, Amit Kumar, P.S. Sudheer, Vijay Panjwani, 
Ranjan Mukherjee, S. Bhowmick, S.C. Ghosh, Garima Bose, 
Vivekta Singh, Kamal Mohan Gupta, Aditya Shamlal, Arijit 
E Prasad, T.A. Khan. A.K. Sharma, lrshad Ahmad, 
Bhavanishankar V. Gadnis, A. Raghunath for the appearing 
parties. 
F 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
ORDER 
ALTAMAS KABIR, J. 1. On 6th July, 2012, Writ Petition 
(Civil) No.657 of 1995 filed by the Research Foundation for 
Science, Technology and Natural Resources Policy was 
G disposed of by this Court. I.A. No.61 of 2012 which had been 
filed by Mis Best Oasis Ltd. on 9th May, 2012, and I.A. No.62 
of 2012 filed by Gopal Krishna on 18th June, 2012, were heard 
separately since in the said applications relief was prayed for 
in respect of a specific ship named "Oriental Nicety" (formerly 
H known as Exxon Valdez), which had entered into Indian territorial 
RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE v. UNION1041 
OF INDIA [ALTAMAS KABIR, J.] 
. 
waters and had sought the permission of the Gujarat Pollution 
A 
Control Board and the Gujarat Maritime Board to allow the ship 
to beach for the purpose of dismantling. Such relief would, of 
course, be subject to compliance with all the formalities as 
required by the judgments and orders passed by this Court on 
14th October, 2003, 6th September, 2007 and 11th September, 
B 
2007 in the Writ Petition. The Applicant, M/s Best Oasis Ltd. 
is the purchaser of the said ship. 
2. Another prayer was for a direction to the above-
mentioned Authorities and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board 
to inspect the ship and to permit it to enter into Indian territorial 
C 
waters and allow it to anchor in Indian waters, which has been 
rendered redundant, since, as submitted by Ms. Hemantika 
Wahi, learned Standing Counsel for the State of Gujarat, the 
said stages have already been completed and the ships is 
anchored outside Alang Port. 
D 
3. After the application had been filed, the Union of India 
in its Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Gujara
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