Kumari Palany & Co

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Warning : in case of usage of banned plastic items in the areas under the Chennai Corporation, shops and establishments will be sealed!

Posted on: 17/Jun/2019 2:04:53 PM
The procedure or system to charge penalties for traders/shops/establishments which still use the banned plastic items are being implemented from today (Monday, 17th June).

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, E Palanisamy had announced last June that 14 plastic items will be banned from usage including carry-bags, straws and cups. Subsequently, the related Government Order was released.

The ban on the above products was implemented from 1st January this year.

In this situation, the Legislative Assembly approved the Act regarding the penalty as above. It mentioned:

In case the companies continue to produce the above-banned plastic items, penalties of Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 2 Lakhs, and Rs. 3 Lakhs will be awarded for the 1st 3 times when caught. In case the violation is detected for the 4th time, the shop will be sealed by the state government.

In case of selling the banned plastic items, the penalties for the 1st 3 times of offence will be Rs. 25000, Rs. 50000 and Rs. 1 Lakh respectively. In case the violation is detected for the 4th time, the shops might be closed and the vehicles will be confiscated.

In case the usage of banned plastic items are observed in the commercial complexes, textile shops, and grocery shops, the penalty for the 1st 3 violations will be Rs. 10000, Rs. 15000, and Rs. 25000 respectively. In case of violations detected for the 4th time, the concerned shop will be closed permanently.

As regards the vegetable shops and pharmacies/medical shops, the penalties for the 1st 3 times violations will be Rs. 1000, Rs. 2000, and Rs. 5000 respectively. If the offence is detected for the 4th time, the concerned shop will be closed permanently. For the traders of smaller shops, the penalties for the 1st 3 offences will be Rs. 100, Rs. 200, and Rs. 500 respectively.

In order to implement this under the Chennai Metro city corporation, the legislative Act 1919 has been amended.  The Secretary of the City Administration and Water Distribution had accorded approval for this recently. However, as the elections were in progress, this Act was not implemented.

In this scenario, the Chennai Metro City Corporation has ordered to implement the above Act from today (Monday, 17th June).

The Chennai Metro Corporation officials observed :
Until recent times, we had only confiscated the banned items if detected. However, henceforth, penalties as above will also be charged. The Chennai Metro Corporation Commissioner K. Prakash has ordered that in case of repeated offences, the shops may be closed and sealed.

In the areas under the jurisdiction of the Chennai Metro Corporation, checking can be done  by the officials from the Department of Food Safety and the Koyambedu Market Administration Council Office. However, the authority of charging penalties or closing the shops in case of 4th-time offence would be exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Chennai Metro City Corporation.