The matter was listed for hearing on Friday, but the PWD moved an application seeking early hearing of its plea for permission to move earth into the drain at some stretches in connection with the bridge’s construction.

New Delhi: Irked over Public Works Department for not sticking to its deadline for finishing the building of the Barapullah Bridge over the elevated road and clearing the Kushak drain, the Delhi high court on Friday asked the department’s secretary why no action should be taken against him in this regard. 

A bench of justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued a notice to PWD secretary Ashwani Kumar to show cause why action should not be taken against him for not sticking to the deadline the department gave to the court for finishing the bridge project and clearing the drain of construction debris.

“What is this? Why are things being taken so casually? You are giving us all kinds of deadlines,” the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on November 8 before which Mr Kumar has been asked to respond to the notice.

The order came on a PIL initiated by the court in 2012 on the issue of water-logging in the South Extension Part-2 area on which it had passed orders from time to time to the PWD for clearing the rubble from the Kushak drain.

The matter was listed for hearing on Friday, but the PWD moved an application seeking early hearing of its plea for permission to move earth into the drain at some stretches in connection with the bridge’s construction. The court did not pass any order on the department’s application.