Chandigarh, May 27 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Tuesday appointed a commissioner to inspect the Dadumajra dumping ground to ascertain whether the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC)'s claims of waste clearance are factually correct. The division bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry directed the commissioner, advocate Tanu Bedi, to visit the site at 5 pm on Tuesday and submit a report, along with photographs from different angles showing the extent to which the area has been cleared, by May 29. The directions were passed during the hearing of public interest litigations (PIL) by lawyer Amit Sharma and another individual seeking the removal of legacy waste. During the hearing, the MC placed before the court photographs, drone footage and a proposed site plan showing that biodegradable legacy waste spread across nearly 25 acres is being manually processed and cleared. The court was informed that around 550 workers have been deployed along with vehicles and JCB machines for removal of non-biodegradable waste, and that nearly five to seven acres have already been cleared and approximately half an acre is being cleared every day. In his submissions, Sharma told the court that the civic body was attempting to create an inaccurate impression that the dumping ground had substantially been cleared. Displaying photographs and videos recorded on Monday noon, Sharma argued that large quantities of garbage remained at the site and that residents continued to suffer because of foul smell and pollution. Taking note of the submissions, the court ordered the constitution of a one-person commission to conduct a spot inspection and verify the correctness of the corporation's claims. The matter will now be taken up after submission of the commissioner's report on May 29. 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 first deadline was July 2025, then September 2025, and later November 2025. Finally, a deadline of 10 days was fixed in April. Now, MC claims the site has been cleared of waste and some non-biodegradable material remains, which is being collected. The MC has so far spent nearly Rs.100 crore on legacy waste processing....