Municipal Corporation Constituted For Providing Basic Public Goods Cannot Shirk Off Responsibility By Citing Financial Constraints: Delhi High Court

Municipal Corporation Constituted For Providing Basic Public Goods Cannot Shirk Off Responsibility By Citing Financial Constraints

Case: Leela Mathur V. Municipal Corporation Of Delhi & Anr

Coram: Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad

Case No.: LPA 48/2021

Court Observation: “It is admitted fact that other house owners in the area have sold their properties to various other persons who have made fresh constructions which is on the road level. The Petitioner, who is 80 years old, has not been able to re-construct her house,”

“A Municipal Corporation constituted for the precise purpose of providing basic amenities to the citizens cannot shirk off responsibility on the ground that the society was once unauthorised. It is evident that since then, the Government of NCT Delhi has regularised these societies with an aim to include them within the development plans of the city.”

“Considering this, this Court finds no force in the argument of the Ld. Counsel for the MCD that the issue of water-logging has occurred due to the status of the colony. If anything, the MCD needs to ensure that other societies which were “unauthorised” and have subsequently been regularised are provided with the requisite sanitation facilities, functional drainage system, roads, and other similar infrastructural amenities”

“The MCD being such a body, cannot reasonably expect individuals to re- apply for sanction plans, and further build their houses from scratch. It should not be the prerogative of a few, with the requisite financial wherewithal, to enjoy amenities as basic as sanitation, functional drainage systems, and mindfully constructed roads.”

“The MCD has, therefore, woefully failed in discharging its duties inasmuch as it has admittedly laid down roads one over the other thereby increasing the height of the roads which ought not to have been done. The MCD has also not ensured that there are proper storm water drains in the area so that the rain water can be drained away,”

“This Court expresses its gratitude to Mr. Akhil Sibbal, learned Senior Counsel, who has assisted this Court in every possible manner. He has taken the pain to visit the site and has placed the facts of the case dispassionately”

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