A division bench of Madras High Court on Friday directed the Collector, The Nilgiris district to seal the shops which are using the banned single-use plastic materials in the district.

The bench comprising Justice V Bharathidasan and Justice N Sathish Kumar passed the direction on hearing a batch of writ petitions seeking direction to the state to ban the plastic materials in the district. When the matter was taken up for hearing, Collector SP Amrith, who appeared through video conferencing mode, submitted that the district administration has been taking serious steps to curb the banned plastic. “The district administration shall seal and close the shops which are using and practising the banned plastic materials,” the judges observed.