Cuttack, Feb. 9: Former SCB Medical College and Hospital superintendent D.N. Moharana will face trial on February 16 following accusations that he had been responsible for lapses in biomedical waste management in the health care facility.

The Odisha State Pollution Control Board had filed a criminal case against Moharana in the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Cuttack, for violation of the Bio-medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998. The alleged violations are related to segregation, treatment and disposal of biomedical waste.

The magistrate had taken cognisance of the offence under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, which provides imprisonment up to five years or fine up to Rs 1 lakh.

The trial would be like the one in which, three months ago, the Jagatsinghpur district headquarters hospital became the first government-run hospital in the state to be convicted for violation of the rules.

The court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Jagatsinghpur, sentenced former additional district medical officer Nityananda Panda to six-month imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000. The conviction came on the basis of a criminal case filed by the board in 2010.

The board had filed the criminal case against the SCB superintendent in pursuance the Orissa High Court directions on a PIL filed by Maitree Sansad, a city-based social organisation.

Though the case was filed in September 2010, it had been languishing till the high court directed the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Cuttack, on September 19 last year to dispose it of within three months. After the deadline expired, the subordinate court had sought two more months for it. On February 6, it directed Moharana to face trial on February 16.

"A recall petition was filed on the ground that a government circular issued on January 7, 2008, clearly assigned the administrative officer of SCB the duty to comply with the biomedical waste management rule and ensure cleanliness and liaison with municipal administration wherever necessary. The court had directed him to depose accordingly," Moharana's counsel P.R. Dash said.

The Sansad has alleged that the incinerator at the SCB's biomedical waste treatment plant had not been functioning for more than six months now. Consequently, biomedical waste treatment at the hospital had gone haywire. Though the hospital authorities had assured the court to ensure proper functioning of the treatment plant with an operating incinerator, nothing was done, it has been alleged.

The incinerator and other components are vital to the waste treatment process that converts waste into ash, flue gas and heat through thermal treatment.