Who controls MCDs, Centre or Delhi govt? HC asks

New Delhi, Dec 2: Who controls the municipal corporations in the national capital, the Centre or the city government, the Delhi High Court today wondered while dealing with a matter on preparedness of authorities to deal with natural disasters, especially earthquakes.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva sought a clarification from the Centre on whether the MCDs come under its administrative control in order to decide who would be saddled with the responsibility to formulate a comprehensive plan for implementing the national building code and disaster preparedness.

It sought the clarification after the Centre referred to minutes of a meeting held on November 18 with regard to the setting up a plan to make buildings in Delhi compliant with the national building code and said that the MCDs fall under Delhi government's control and thus the city administration should make the plan of action.

Delhi government, in response to this, said that the MCDs did not come under it but if the court directs it was willing to take over control of the corporations.

However, the Centre said there must be some mistake in the affidavit filed along with the minutes, both of which state that MCDs come under Delhi government, and said that some clarification was required.

"We have noted the affidavit and minutes of meeting of November 18. We find that clarification is required whether Delhi municipal corporations fall under the administrative control of Delhi," the court said and asked the Centre to clarify the situation by the next date of hearing on January 27, 2016.

The court also directed all the other agencies in Delhi to formulate an action plan so as to minimise the disaster due to earthquakes.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Arpit Bhargava questioning how safe were the buildings in the national capital if an earthquake, like that in Nepal, hits Delhi.

PTI