Can’t you act without judicial stick, HC pulls up Chandigarh admn

High court tells Chandigarh administration to file affidavit on remedial steps taken to improve sanitation at the Sector-26 grain and vegetable market

Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh administration over the appalling insanitation at the Sector-26 grain and vegetable market, the Punjab and Haryana High court on Friday questioned why civic authorities acted only when faced with judicial orders.

The court was hearing a suo motu PIL over the Chandigarh administration’s failure to address insanitation at the Sector-26 market. (HT)

“Why does everybody act only when there is a judicial order? Why not earlier? What action have you taken against inactive functionaries?” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry asked while asking the administration to file an affidavit disclosing not only the remedial steps undertaken so far, but also the action initiated against officials who failed to discharge their duty. Detailed order of the proceedings is awaited.

The court was hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) initiated on July 30 over the administration’s inaction with regard to the poor state of the market. On September 16, while seeking photographs of the market, the court had pulled up the administration for its failure to improve the state of cleanliness, while also recording that one can’t even step in the market due to widespread muck.

The UT administration counsel had submitted photographs of the cleaned up area and submitted that the market was now supervised daily to prevent encroachment, and sanitation was conducted after the morning auction hours. The entry and exit points had been designated, truck movement regulated, and parking spaces segregated for two-wheelers and four-wheelers, the court was told.

While posting the matter for hearing in October, the court sought to know why municipal functions were performed only when a judicial order is passed.

The Sector-39 grain market was planned in 2002 to decongest the Sector-26 grain market, which had no room for further expansion. However, despite multiple attempts over the past years to auction 92 shops, UT failed. Once the shops in Sector 39 are allotted, the Sector-26 grain market will be de-notified in phases, marking the end of an era for one of the city’s oldest wholesale markets, as per the UT officials. In March this year, the high court dismissed a plea from the traders of Sector-26 vegetable market challenging e-auction process for 23 fruit and vegetable shops in Sector 39. However, the order was stayed by the apex court in April. UT administration began the process of e-auction of 23 fruit and vegetable shops in Sector 39 from March 3 as part of the long-awaited relocation of the Sector-26 grain market.

In the exercise, the UT administration sold 12 out of 23 fruit and vegetable shops in Sector 39. The highest bid was ₹3.85 crore against the reserve price of ₹3.70 crore, while the lowest bid was ₹3.75 crore. The UT administration’s agriculture department earned revenue of ₹45 crore from the auction. The successful bidders will have three years to construct their shops. The auction took place from March 28 to March 31.

Each shop, measuring 120 square yards, had a reserve price of ₹3.70 crore. Unlike the previous system, where shops were sold on a freehold basis, these will be allotted on a leasehold basis for 99 years. In January this year, UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria approved the auction of 46 out of 92 fruit and vegetable shops.