Chandigarh, May 9 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday said that the "polluter pays" principle could be invoked against the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) for its failure to take remedial steps for waste processing over the years. "You created this mess, now clean it up," the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry observed during the hearing of public interest litigation by counsel Amit Sharma, seeking the removal of legacy waste from the Dadumajra dump site. "The court is not going to catch hold of the contractor. We will catch hold of you. Whether you do it through a contractor or through your own employees is entirely up to you. We are not concerned with that," the court remarked. The polluter pays principal states that those who cause pollution should be saddled with the cost of management, processing and remedying environmental damages. Sharma had told the court that instead of scientifically processing the waste, MC was merely shifting it from one location to another, including to EWS areas in other parts of Chandigarh and neighbouring areas. Truckloads of waste had allegedly been transported elsewhere, citing instances of vehicles overturning and FIRs being registered outside Chandigarh, he said, adding that the same can be confirmed from their own documents and affidavits. He submitted that for years, the goalposts have simply been shifted. People are suffering and a mockery is being made of environmental compliance, Sharma told the court, seeking fixing of personal accountability of the officers involved. Earlier, the Chandigarh administration and the municipal corporation counsels had apprised the court that the entire legacy waste mound has been processed and that "99.9 per cent" of the mountain is gone. Bio-mining and processing of accumulated waste is nearly complete, and what remains is the lifting processed material, segregation of residual plastic and the final levelling of the area, the court was told as the authorities sought 20 to 25 days for completion of miscellaneous work. "Before the monsoon starts, you only have a short window. Clean this area and show us," the bench said while deferring hearing for May 26. The court added that the civic body would have to completely clear the dumping ground and not merely level the site, warning that it was prepared to impose costs for the environmental damage. Even residual plastic waste and polythene bags scattered across the site must be removed, the court added. The first mountain, comprising 5 lakh MT, was fully cleared by December 2022. The second mountain, of 8 lakh MT, was originally slated for clearance by July 2023. The deadline was extended five times-to December 2023, March 2024, June 2024, October 2024, and then to December 2024. The target was finally achieved in February 2025. While the second mountain was being remediated, a third heap of 2.4 lakh MT emerged due to continuous dumping of unsegregated and unprocessed daily waste. Its deadline was first July 2025, then September 2025, and later November 2025. Finally, a deadline of 10 days was fixed in April. The MC now has around 20 days to clear the site completely. The MC has so far spent nearly Rs.100 crore on legacy waste processing....