Post-Covid Biomedical Waste Regulation in India: Legislative and Judicial Aspects.

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing legislations, complemented by government policies and specific guidelines developed during the Covid-19 pandemic for its effective implementation, along with a few cases reflecting the approach of the Indian judiciary in controlling and managing biomedical wastes. There must be a legal framework in place to govern the handling of different forms of trash and the collection and transportation of waste as well as the duties and training needed for waste management and regulation inside India. In addition, the paper examines the legal gray areas and obstacles to the effective execution of the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 and its subsequent amendments in 2016. Nature has often shown us the importance of the interdependency of the atmosphere, development, and law, which has only just been recognized by the world. The present improbable and disastrous pandemic wave has impacted human health and environment so severely that it has brought forward the desperate need for effective management of huge biomedical waste generated and disposed of in our country. In furtherance of which, the government has also laid down special guidelines to be followed for disposal of biomedical wastes during treatment/diagnosis/quarantine of Covid-19 patients. This further endorses the fact that mere protection and conservation of the environment under the Constitution, mandated by various legislations, does not suffice, and it is high time that we ensured proper control and management of biomedical waste to save the most basic human right that is "Right to Life", visualized under Article 21 of our Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]