Come up with scheme for biogas generation in Tamil Nadu: Plea at Madras High Court

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to come up with a comprehensive State-level scheme for decentralised biogas generation through local bodies and other welfare departments using biodegradable wet waste.

The PIL has been listed for admission before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan on Monday (June 15, 2026). S.P. Surendranath Karthik of Madipakkam in Chennai had filed the PIL petition highlighting the benefits of generating biogas.

The petitioner said biogas could provide a clean, renewable and reliable source of power to meet the power demands and it could be produced easily using millions of tons of organic waste generated by individual households, hotels, factories and other commercial establishments.

Highlighting the harm wet waste could cause to the environment and public health, through possible contamination of surface as well as groundwater, if it was not handled properly, the petitioner said, the same organic waste could be put to better use by utilising it to produce biogas.

The petitioner said he had made a representation in this regard to the State government on May 22 and insisted an expert committee must be constituted as a first step towards formulation of a decentralised household biogas policy before coming up with a comprehensive scheme to implement the policy.

He also sought a direction to the State government and the Greater Chennai Corporation to conduct pilot projects in some of the urban local bodies including Chennai for scientific utilisation of wet waste through decentralised biogas generation system and then expand it across the State in a time-bound manner.