Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday put an interim hold on the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order to the Kochi corporation to pay Rs 100 crore as environmental compensation following the massive fire that erupted at Brahmapuram waste management plant. 

The order has been stayed for eight weeks by a division bench, comprising Justices SV Bhatt and Basant Balaji, when considering the plea filed by the corporation. A decision will be taken on the plea within eight weeks, said the court. The case will be heard again on May 23. 

Meanwhile, the court also observed that garbage was piled up on roadsides in Kochi city. There are huge amounts of waste dumped within 100 metres of the houses of the district collector and judges, court said. 

“If a WhatsApp number was given to lodge complaints about garbage being dumped on the roadside, then that phone will freeze,” said the court. 

Additional chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, Pollution Control Board Chairman AB Pradeep Kumar, district collector NSK Umesh, Kochi corporation secretary Babu Abdul Khader were present at the court.

On March 17, the NGT had ordered the corporation to pay Rs 100 crore as environmental compensation within a month, in connection with the fire incident at the Brahmapuram plant that choked the city for days.