HC directs committee to check construction on water body

New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today directed the Court-appointed committee to visit Jahangirpuri in north Delhi where, a water body had been allotted to the Delhi Police by the authorities for the construction of a colony.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli asked the committee comprising advocates Arbind Shah, Sanjeev Khanna and V K Tandon to visit Jahangirpuri to see whether any construction had been done on the land earlier marked a water body in the land records.

The court also asked the committee to go to the Revenue department to check the records on water bodies in the capital.

The court in its order said, ''You first let encroachment to continue and then come to us for eviction.'' The Judges gave a time period of four weeks to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD), the Delhi Development Authority(DDA) and the New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC) to file a report on the status of water bodies in their respective areas.

In an affidavit, the Municipal Commission of Delhi (MCD) had stated there were about 580 water bodies in Delhi out of which 319 were wet and 261 dry.

The MCD had said it would make the water bodies functional by June 30 this year so that rain was preserved to recharge the ground water of the capital.

The court suggested the government to appoint an official to look after all the water bodies of the capial.

Considering the increase in population and urbanisation, it was the need of the hour to protect and maintain water bodies like lakes and ponds, the judges said.

It emphasised that water bodies should be kept clean to ensure proper recharge of ground water and no other land-use--residential or commercial--should be allowed at their place.

The bench also cited the disastrous aftermath of putting such reclaimed land to other use during the Gujarat tremblor.

The court was dealing with a PIL filed by an East Delhi resident's welfare association seeking to preserve the Seelampur lake for which the MCD was asked to draw a plan for its upkeep and setting up a park around it.

The petitioners had sought a ban on all construction activities around the lake area, removal of all building material, garbage and water hyacinth from it, and developing it as a tourist attraction.

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