India, Feb. 25 -- New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi's satellite cities of Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Greater Noida to spell out clear timelines for implementing segregation of solid waste, observing that "Smart Cities" could not afford to be non-compliant with the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016.

Dealing with a petition on pollution in Delhi-NCR filed by advocate-activist MC Mehta, a bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said that non-compliance with the rules was affecting the entire country.

The court was informed that segregation of dry and wet waste, biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste at source was low in Haryana, at 15% in Gurugram, and 20% in Faridabad. The Uttar Pradesh government ...