Clean up South Ex or face contempt action: HC tells south body

Delhi High Court has threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) commissioner if he did not take urgent measures to clean up South Extension area. Harish V Nair reports.

Delhi High Court has threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) commissioner if he did not take urgent measures to clean up South Extension area.

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“Let the work be completed as per earlier directions or the commissioner will face contempt of court from the next date of hearing. Your officials will get to know the real condition only if they stay there for at least 24 hours,” a bench of justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and justice Sanjeev Sachdeva told the south civic body’s lawyer.

The court warning came on a petition filed by Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of South Extension-I which had complained about overflowing drains, heaps of garbage in bylanes and dirty Kushak Nullah which flows through the area.

“Despite directions of the court, the SDMC is not taking any action. We continue to live in terrible conditions and some urgent direction from the court is called for,” RWA joint secretary Manjeet Singh Chugh told the court. The bench asked the civic body to complete the task, including cleaning up of the Kushak drain within two weeks and file a compliance report in the court.