The Delhi High Court recently banned the import of toxic zinc and lead ash and their skimmings till further orders. The court was ruling on a petition seeking implementation of the Basel convention, 1989, which seeks to ban trade in hazardous wastes. India had signed the convention in 1992. The counsel for the petitioners argued that lead ash and zinc ash residue left behind after reprocessing, if left in a landfill might turn into acids and seep down into groundwater causing serious hazard to health and the environment.