NEW DELHI: A miffed Delhi High Court today slammed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for “not doing anything” to keep Lajpat Nagar clean despite a direction and said the civic body was not concerned about the people.
“You are right. They have not done anything, not doing anything and will not do anything,” a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said, and added that the corporation was not concerned about the people.
The observation was made in response to an NGO’s claim that SDMC has not done anything to keeping Lajpat Nagar clean as per the court’s direction on March 18.
NGO Nyay Bhoomi’s representative B B Sharan told the court there were “deficiencies” in the working of the municipality which has not even properly cleaned the drains which are three-fourths full with rubble.
Sharan suggested sending the errant officials of SDMC to jail, in response to which the court said, “Maybe we will”.
The court noted that SDMC till date has not filed a “comprehensive” affidavit and directed the corporation to do so “positively” before the next date of hearing on May 20.
It also noted that once monsoon starts, the problem of waterlogging would also start.
The proxy counsel appearing on behalf of SDMC said no affidavit was filed due to ongoing strike by high court lawyers.
The court then said that it was the citizens who suffer as a result of the strikes.
The court on March 18 had directed SDMC and other civic bodies to start cleaning, from March 19, the entire Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi and to maintain it that way as a “test” of their “efficiency and ability” to keep the city clean.
The high court had issued the direction to see if the civic bodies were “capable” of maintaining cleanliness in a model area “or else we will disband the corporations”.
It had also directed Sharan to periodically inspect the area (Lajpat Nagar) and submit its report.
It had directed the municipal corporations to file their status reports as directed by the court on January 28.
The court had on January 28 directed the corporations to adopt a 2001 order issued by then Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and said appropriate circulars be issued by each of three MCDs.
It had also directed them to implement the 2001 order and sought substantive status reports from the MCDs.
The High Court had on September 10 last year restored its earlier order to have the streets of Delhi, public premises, drains and parks cleaned on a daily basis, including on Sundays and public holidays.
The petitioner NGO had filed a restoration plea before the court alleging that government agencies have failed to improve the conditions in the city despite the Supreme Court’s observation in 1996 that the “historical city of Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the most polluted cities in the world”.–PTI
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