Thursday, the Supreme Court took the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to task over ignoring its instructions on the maintenance of the Gumti of Shaikh Ali, a 700-year-old Lodi-era structure in Defence Colony. The court asked the MCD commissioner to turn up personally at 3 pm, and it was not pleased with how the civic body had flouted earlier orders.
The order was issued by a bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and SVN Bhatti, who were presented with photographs by court commissioner and senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan on his visit to the site on Wednesday. His report found that construction debris from a demolition had been accumulating as much as two months around the monument, despite previous orders to keep the area maintained. “Is there an ego issue?” the bench said, noting that there were communication problems between the court and MCD that were causing compliance lag.
The court had previously, on July 31, ordered the MCD to maintain and clean the area around the monument on a daily basis. In August, however, there were reports of waterlogging, litter, and poor sanitation. In his recent filing, Sankaranarayanan indicated that he was no longer optimistic about the MCD and that nothing much was happening. He further stated that police at the scene said they were awaiting orders from the archaeology department of the Delhi government, which is doing the restoration work.
In his defence of the corporation, senior advocate Garima Prashad said that there was a misunderstanding and that regular cleaning was being done. She opined that part of the debris could be attributed to the continuous restoration process and indicated that excessive rain had caused the situation. Nevertheless, the court was not persuaded. “How long can MCD take to clear 4-5 inches of debris using the resources that it has? When a dignitary is arriving, you clean in two hours,” the judges remarked.
The court has already complained of delays, threatening to run out of patience.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News