Environmental Rule of Law: Role of Environmental Institutions in curbing Indu...
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Restrictions on Articles and Activities Injurious to Environment: Motor Vehicles
1. Restrictions on articles
and activities injurious
to Environment
Preeti Kana Sikder
Assistant Professor
Department of Law & Justice
Jahangirnagar University
2. Exclusive factors of the BECA
īĩ Creation of a dedicated institution
īĩ Enabling powers of the Director General
īĩ Environmental Clearance Certificate
īĩ Restrictions on articles and activities injurious
to Environment
īĩ Imposing penalties
īĩ Declaration of Ecologically Critical Areas
(ECAs)
3.
4. S: 139: Fitting and using of prohibited
horns or other sound producing device
MOTOR VEHICLES ORDINANCE, 1983
Whoever uses or being the owner or person in charge of
motor vehicle fits, causes or allows fitting of any horns
or any sound producing devices prohibited by any
competent authority having jurisdiction over the area or
prohibited under the provision of this Ordinance or any [
rules or regulations] made thereunder or uses horn or
any sound producing device where its use is prohibited
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to [ one
hundred] Taka.
5. S: 150 â Using of motor vehicle emitting
smokes
MOTOR VEHICLES ORDINANCE, 1983
(1) Whoever drives or causes or allows or lets out a motor
vehicle for use in any public place, the smoke of which would
constitute a health hazard, shall be punishable with fine which
may extend to two hundred Taka.
(2) Any police officer not below the rank of Sub Inspector of
Police in uniform authorised in this behalf by the [ Authority or
any Inspector of Motor Vehicles or other persons authorised in
this behalf by the Authority] may seize and detain such vehicle
for such time as may be necessary to ascertain if the smokes
constitute a health hazard.
(3) No person shall be convicted of an offence punishable under
sub-section (1) solely on the evidence of a witness unless that
opinion is based on a test by the competent person.
6. Provisions for Smoke Controlling Apparatus
īĩ Section 6: A vehicle emitting
smoke or gas injurious to health
or environment shall not be
operated nor shall such vehicles
be switched on
īĩ Rule 4: For the purposes of S.6,
every motor vehicle using petrol,
diesel or gas as fuel shall be
fitted with catalytic converter or
oxidation catalyst or diesel
particulate filter, or with such
other instrument or device as
approved by the DG
7. Catalytic Converter
īĩ Pollutant gases are made of
harmful molecules, but those
molecules are made from
relatively harmless atoms.
īĩ So in order to split up the
molecules after they leave a
car's engine and before they get
pumped out into the air a
catalytic converter is used.
9. Penalty for violating these provisions
When such penalty is imposed, the fact of such
imposition shall be recorded briefly in such document
or demonstrated on such conspicuous part of the
vehicle
10. The person importing or marketing, shall
obtain written approval from the DG by
demonstrating and proving its
effectiveness
Rule 7B: Restriction on importation and marketing
or environmentally harmful smoke controlling
apparatus
11. Pollution under Control Certificate
Bangladesh Environment Conservation Rules, 1998
Rule 7A: Procedure for issuance
Form 4: The Certificate
12. Pollution under
Control Certificate
īĩ Within two months after the
vehicle is fitted with the
apparatus specified in sub-rule
(1) of Rule 4 and registration
and fitness certificate is issued,
or as the case may be, the
owner of the vehicle shall
obtain the âPollution under
Control Certificateâ from the
Director General in accordance
with form-4
13. Some people believe catalytic converters make
climate change worse because they turn carbon
monoxide into carbon dioxide. In fact, the carbon
monoxide your car produces would eventually turn
into carbon dioxide in the atmosphere all by itself,
so a catalytic converter makes no difference on that
score: it simply reduces the carbon monoxide a car
pumps into the street as it drives along, improving
the local air quality.
Source: http://www.explainthatstuff.com/catalyticconverters.html
14. Source: http://www.explainthatstuff.com/catalyticconverters.html
īĩ Although these converters turn most nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and
oxygen, they also produce small amounts of nitrous oxide (N2O) in the
process, a greenhouse gas that's over 300 times more potent than
carbon dioxide.
īĩ The trouble is that with so many vehicles on the road, even small
amounts of nitrous oxide add up to a major problem.
īĩ Back in 2000, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted:
"The introduction of catalytic converters as a pollution control
measure in the majority of industrialized countries is resulting in a
substantial increase in N2O emissions from gasoline vehicles.â
īĩ While catalytic converters have certainly helped us to tackle short-
term air pollution, there are concerns that, when it comes to long-term
climate change, they could be making matters worse.