New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said there should be one civic agency instead of multiple bodies to deal with issues of construction of roads, management of sewage, garbage and
drains.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora highlighted the mismanagement between the agencies, saying akin to NDMC which took care of all civic amenities in the Lutyens' Delhi, there ought to be one civic agency for the entire city.
The bench, therefore, asked the Delhi chief secretary to file a status report after placing this order before the administrator or the functionaries of Delhi government to ascertain their stands on the matter.
"It should be one civic agency for the whole of Delhi. Like it is for Lutyens' Delhi, it is only the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). Water, construction, drain and road everything. So that's how it should be for the whole of Delhi. You can make different departments if you want but it should be one agency," the bench said.
The matter was posted for September 3.
The counsel for the Delhi government, on instructions of the chief secretary, submitted the Integrated Drain Management Cell (IDMC) was the authority overseeing all drains in Delhi.
"This appears to be an inaccurate position as the IDMC does not appear as a single agency managing all drains including storm water drains and sewage drains. The purport of the order dated July 28 was that like in the case of NDMC which takes care of all civic amenities in the New Delhi Municipal area, there ought to be one civic agency which would deal with all issues including construction of roads, management of sewage, garbage, drains and storm water drains," the bench said.
The court on July 28 took note of "enormous confusion" between various civic agencies due to improper delineation of responsibilities and asked the Delhi government to take a decision on centralisation of administration and management in the city.
It had pointed out a glaring example saying the storm water drains are under the management of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and sewage lines are under the Delhi Jal Board.
The court was dealing with petitions on water logging and rainwater harvesting and easing traffic jams in the national capital during monsoon and other periods. PTI SKV SKV AMK
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