HC directs MCD to ensure cleanliness in capital

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) In the light of the worsening sanitary condition in the Capital, the Delhi High Court today directed the the MCD Commissioner to ensure that 'safai karamcharis' and supervisors did not absent themselves without proper intimation.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) Commissioner to initiate criminal proceedings under the MCD Act against the sweepers and supervisors who absented themselves deliberately.

The Court was not happy with the status report filed by the MCD Commissioner, which stated the sweepers and supervisors were fined Rs 50 for not reporting to their duties.

''Why not to initiate criminal proceedings, if there is a provision in the MCD Act?'' asked the Bench.

In an explicit order on July 27, 2005, the High Court had asked the MCD Commissioner to initiate action against the sweepers and the supervisors who wilfully neglected their duties.

Noting that the matter was very serious, the court observed the MCD could mechanise the cleaning system if 60,000-odd safai karamcharis did not discharge their duties properly.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel B B Sharan, president of NGO 'Nyayabhumi', in a PIL alleged that the MCD was spending Rs 400 crore to pay salary to the safai karamcharis who did not discharge their duties properly.

They in turn deploy proxy staff paying less amount from their own pocket to do the job in their absence, the petition alleged.

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