High Court restores plea over poor sanitation facility in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High today restored its earlier order to have the streets, public premises, drains and parks cleaned on daily basis, including on Sundays and public holidays, in the national capital.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul agreed to bring back into existence its order passed in 2005 after a plea of an NGO alleged that the municipal bodies have failed to improve the condition in the city despite its earlier direction.

Nyaya Bhoomi, an NGO, filed the restoration plea before the court alleging the government agencies have failed to improve the condition in the city despite the apex 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".

Taking note of the plea, the court said "the application is allowed and all the interim order is restored..."

It also said it will deal with the issue along with another petition related to water-logging in the national capital.

The court has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 10.

The petitioner, B B Sharan, also the President of NGO, said "although the tempo of cleaning improved after issue of the orders, it soon went down and drains were found chocked causing water-logging, sweeping was not done etc".

The court had in its order said the streets, public premises, drains and parks shall be surface cleaned on a daily basis including on Sundays and public holidays.

Any sweeper not found present on his beat of duty can be awarded jail term up to 30 days by the Municipal Magistrates under Sec 387 MCD Act.

86-year-old Sharan in his plea pointed out the poor state of public toilets, infrastructure and facilities in health and educational institutions.

Highlighting the apex court's observations, the petition said "it issued 14 directions to the MCD and the NDMC to improve the condition of the city and to maintain hygiene".