Cuttack, April 7: The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics, also known as Sishu Bhavan, today faced trial for violation of the biomedical waste management laws.

This comes close on the heels of the SCB hospital being convicted yesterday.

The state pollution control board had filed a criminal case against the institute in the court of the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate for violation of the Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998. The board had filed the criminal case against the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Shishu Bhavan following an Orissa High Court order on a PIL filed by Maitree Sansad, a Cuttack-based social organisation.

The alleged violations are related to treatment and disposal, segregation, packaging, transportation, storage and authorisation. The magistrate had taken cognisance of the offence under the Environment Protection Act.

The trial proceeded like the one in which the SCB was convicted and directed to cough up Rs 5 lakh. Former superintendent of the medical college and hospital D.N. Moharana was sentenced to four months of simple imprisonment and asked to pay Rs 10,000.

Sishu Bhavan's former superintendent H.K. Mohanty and deputy superintendent Bijay Kumar Behera were named accused in the case.

"The Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate today heard the arguments of the accused's counsel and posted the matter to Thursday for further hearing," said the board's counsel Prafulla Kumar Lenka.

The case, filed in September 2010, had been languishing till the high court directed the court of the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate, Cuttack, on September 19, 2014, to dispose it of within three months. After the deadline expired, the subordinate court had sought time for it.

On the basis of 23 documents, the board alleged that the paediatric hospital had failed to treat and dispose of the biomedical waste following the norms. It had also not set up the requisite biomedical waste treatment facility. Besides, the hospital authority was running the facility without the board's authorisation.

Referring to his period of incumbency, the former hospital superintendent had countered that the management of biomedical waste was outsourced to Bhubaneswar-based Medi Aid Marketing Services (selected by the government). The wards, out patient department, laboratories and operation theatres had been provided with needle syringe terminators and colour coded bins.

The institute, in its biomedical waste management plant, had installed one shredder and one microwave machine. A sharp pit is also present there.

Biomedical waste is being treated at the plant after being collected from various wards, out patient department and operation theatres by the outsourcing agency, the former superintendent had said.

The board had alleged that during inspection, it was found that the hospital had failed to segregate biomedical waste and the waste management was grossly inadequate.