A division bench Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Veena Birbal Friday directed formation of the committee 
headed by Justice (Retd) R.C. Chopra for the study with the help of experts and environmentalists and to 
submit the report in three months.

The chairmen of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee 
(DPCC) would be the other members of the committee, which would have the help of the experts in the 
field.

Directing the CPCB and the DPCC to provide infrastructure and secretarial staff, the court said the 
committee would meet twice every month to take stock of the situation.

During the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Tapas, an NGO, to ban plastic bags - 
widely used for packing goods bought at shops - in the capital, the court said the committee could 
take the opinion and expertise of the experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and other 
institutes.

The high court in September 2006 had directed the Delhi government to give effect to the Delhi 
Plastic Bags (Manufacture, Sale and Usage) and Non-biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act immediately 
banning non-biodegradable plastic bags in the capital.

The court had asked the government to consider the suggestion of the CPCB to recycle the used 
plastic bags as material in road construction.

The CPCB had asked the Jadavpur University  and the Thyagaraj Engineering College of  Madurai to study the re-usability of the plastic  bags. The study had suggested that the used  plastic bags could be used for constructing the  top layer of the road. The amendment in the  Delhi Plastic Bags (Manufacture,  Sale and Usage) and Non-biodegradable  Garbage (Control) Act, 2003, had made it  mandatory for five-star hotels, restaurants  with 100 seats and hospitals with 100 beds in  Delhi to use only biodegradable plastic bags.  But the law is not yet implemented  in the capital, said Vinod Jain of  Tapas in the petition

Judge Speaks (Justice R. C. Chopra)

burnt meters -Justice R C Chopra

Note On Disaster Management Plan by Justice R. C. Chopra