The Delhi High Court has issued notices to authorities in the national capital after receiving a plea challenging a blanket ban on plastic bags in the city.

The High Court issued notices to the Union Government, the Delhi Government, the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee on a petition by the an association of plastic industries against an order by Delhi Government that imposed a blanket ban on manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in the Capital.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Darmar Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw has ordered the authorities to respond to the petition by the All India Plastic Industries Association by 23 November.

The petition challenged the authority of the Delhi Government to notify The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which is a legislation of the central government. It also alleged that the blanket ban would affect the employment of lakhs of employees engaged in the plastic bags industry as the ban would close down the industry and its members will have to shut down units in the city.

The Delhi Government had said in a notification on October 23 that obody can manufacture, import, store, sell or transport any kind of plastic bags, even those used for covering magazines, books, invitation cards and for collecting garbage in the city. The ban is to come into effect on November 22 this year.