Start cleaning from tomorrow morning: Delhi HC to civic bodies

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed civic bodies to start cleaning the entire Lajpat Nagar here from Thursday morning and to maintain it that way as a "test" of their "efficiency and ability" to keep the national capital clean.

A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said it wants to see if the civic bodies, including the municipal corporations, Delhi Jal Board, Public Works Department and DDA were "capable" of maintaining cleanliness in a model area "or else we will disband the corporations".

"We want to see your capacity... Start cleaning from tomorrow morning," the bench said. During the hearing, it had said "people have no civic sense and the corporations are not doing anything" to maintain cleanliness.

It, however, made it clear the exercise has to be carried out without displacing or "ejecting" any street vendor and without neglecting to clean the other areas of the national capital.

It directed the petitioner NGO Nyay Bhoomi to inspect the area (Lajpat Nagar) and submit its report before the next date of hearing on April 8.

It also told the corporations that it wants a "joint action plan on disposal of garbage" which has to be the same for all of them.

It also directed the municipal corporations to file their status reports as directed by the court on January 28.

The court had on January 28 had 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 court had also directed the civic bodies to indicate the status of their review on whether more Safai Karamcharis were needed.

The bench had, on the last date, also sought a status report on outsourcing of garbage transportation from landfill sites after MCD said that in majority of the zones removal of rubble from 'dhalaos' (rubbish dumps) has been outsourced.

The bench had also directed DDA to file an affidavit on the steps taken to make land available to the corporations for building landfill sites.

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".