PILs show dereliction of duty by civic bodies: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi high court has on Thursday said that a large number of public interest litigations (PILs) have been filed before it alleging unauthorised construction in the capital, which were later found to be true, which shows the ‘negligence’ of the civic bodies in discharging their duties.

A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar made this observation, while hearing a petition filed by a registered society pointing to the unauthorised constructions in East Delhi.

The bench directed the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) to carry out a survey of the illegal constructions in the areas under it and take action against them as per law.

The municipal corporation was also ordered by the high court bench to file a status report detailing the steps taken by it and the matter has been listed for further hearing on April 4 next year.

While issuing the said direction, the bench said that it was the ‘duty’ of the Delhi municipal corporations to ‘ensure strict compliance’ of provisions of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Act, 1957.

It is truly unfortunate that this court has been inundated with complaints about the unauthorised constructions  in areas under the EDMC limits, the bench said.

Invariably all these complaints have been found to be true and correct in the status reports filed by the municipal corporations, it said.

All of them point towards the gross negligence of the municipal corporation officials and their gross failure to carry out their duties and discharge public obligations, the bench said.