Delhi: Littering may land you in prison for two years

New Delhi: Think twice before littering or throwing garbage in the open as it may land you behind bars. The municipal corporation has decided to impose criminal charges against violators. The chief law officer of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has also issued an order in this regard. 

For different offences there are provisions of imprisonment of minimum one month to a maximum of two years and fine or both. Sources said that the other two corporations may also follow the EDMC decision to make the city clean. A senior official told this newspaper that if municipal health officers find mosquito breeding in houses, the owners may be charged for endangering public safety as this may lead to an outbreak of vector-borne disease like dengue or chikungunya. The culprits may be booked under section 270 of IPC with a provision of two years of imprisonment. 

According to a senior civic official, the existing penalty on violating sanitation bylaws is too weak and hence it decided to slap criminal charges against violators. The imprisonment would vary from one to six months depending on severity of the violation. 

“To keep Delhi free of littering and insanitary conditions, various provisions of the IPC/CrPC, the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, prevention and control of various pollution regulations and the NGT direction issued from time to time may be invoked against the violators to check and control of insanitation in Delhi.  Departments may proceed accordingly,” said an order issued by the chief law officer of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The civic body has identified 14 provisions under the IPC to deal with sanitation woes. Any pollution that may cause fouling of drinking water has also been put in the category of criminal offences.

Officials said the strict action was necessitated as the existing laws failed to deter the lawbreakers. Its repeated attempts to amend the sanitation bylaws for higher penalty also failed to yield results. The draft of the amendment in sanitation bylaws is pending with the Delhi government for the last seven years but the same could not be notified.

The order comes following instructions from the Delhi high court to maintain proper sanitation in the national capital. The high court had recently pulled up the three civic bodies as it had also said that even citizens should take responsibility of keeping their surroundings clean.