Chennai: In a reprieve to the Tamil Nadu govt, the Madras high court has set aside a single judge order staying the operation of a GO relating to restructuring and execution of Solid Waste Management (SWM) operations across 147 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
The court passed the order on an appeal moved by the state municipal administration department challenging an order passed by a single judge in a plea moved by the Waste Management Operators Association dated Oct 30.
Passing the interim order, the bench pointed out that the Supreme Court in N G Projects Ltd case and National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd case has held that courts must exercise extreme circumspection and refrain from issuing mechanical interim stays that halt essential public works, infrastructural frameworks, or public utilities. When private commercial expectations are pitted against overwhelming public interest, public interest must decisively prevail. Representing the state, advocate-general Vijay Narayan submitted that the interim order of the single judge is ex-facie unsustainable, having been rendered in complete disregard of the well-settled jurisdictional parameters governing judicial review of executive policy decisions.