Patna High Court on Thursday directed the government to file a detailed reply on the steps it has taken to dispose of animal carcasses in the Patna Municipal Corporation area.

Taking strong exception to the dumping of animal carcasses in the Ganga, the division bench of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Shailesh Kumar Shailesh Kumar Sinha directed secretary, urban development, and the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner to file a detailed counter affidavit by the next hearing, which is on December 5. If they fail to do so, they would have to personally appear before the bench on December 5.

The bench passed the direction on a contempt petition filed by Vikash Chandra Guddu Baba seeking direction to the authorities concerned for taking appropriate steps for the disposal of carcasses in the PMC area.

Vikash had filed the contempt petition following the failure of the authorities — the urban development department, PMC, animal and fish resources department, Bihar State Pollution Control Board — to implement orders passed by the division bench on April 29, 2010, for the proper disposal of the animal carcasses.

Referring to Section 272 of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007, petitioner’s counsel Surendra Kumar Singh submitted that it was the PMC’s responsibility to dispose the carcasses, but in spite of the statutory provisions, appropriate steps have not been taken. As a consequence, he submitted, apart from water and air pollution, epidemic diseases were also spreading.