New Delhi, July 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday rapped the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for not taking enough effective measures to handle the garbage issue despite having powers over the municipal corporations.
A bench of justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta snubbed the L-G after his affidavit asserted that the municipal corporations of Delhi were answerable to him.
“You say I have the power, but you do not want to do anything. You think you are superpower; I am responsible but nobody can question,” the judges said.
The court made the remark after additional solicitor general Pinky Anand refused to commit on a timeline to clean the garbage. She said she would revert after seeking adequate instructions.
“You say the corporations are answerable to you. Tell us within how much time will you clear the sites,” the judges asked. “Why should the corporations be asked? You are the L-G. You should have found out by now,” the bench retorted.
The court’s remarks come in the wake of a turf war between L-G Anil Baijal and AAP government in Delhi.
The court had on Tuesday asked the L-G to inform it who was responsible for clearing of the three “mountains of garbage” (landfill sites) at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur in the national capital.
It had observed that due to the loads of garbage in Delhi, people were getting infected by dengue, malaria and chikungunya, while Mumbai was sinking under heavy rainfall.
The apex court had on March 27, taken strong objections to non-implementation of solid waste management rules in the country and observed that “India will one day go down under the garbage”.
It had earlier said that days are not far when garbage mounds at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi will match the height of iconic 73-metre high Qutub Minar and red beacon lights will have to be used to ward off aircraft flying over it.
In 2015, the apex court had on its own taken cognisance of death of a seven-year-old boy due to dengue. He had been allegedly denied treatment by five private hospitals and his distraught parents subsequently committed suicide.
Source Hindustan Times
