The Delhi High Court on Friday formed a committee to review the national capital’s administrative, financial and physical infrastructure, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that the various authorities in Delhi were only passing the buck as the city went from one crisis to another.
The court issued the order setting up the committee as it transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation a case related to the death by drowning of three Union Public Service Commission aspirants at a private coaching centre in the city’s Old Rajinder Nagar, Live Law reported.
The three students, enrolled at Rau’s IAS Study Circle, drowned on July 27 when the coaching centre’s basement flooded after a nearby drainage pipeline burst. The court was hearing a petition seeking a high-level probe into the deaths.
“One day there is a drought and the next day there is a flood,” the court said, according to Bar and Bench. “It is time that administrative, financial and physical infrastructure of Delhi is relooked at.”
The bench appointed Naresh Kumar, the chief secretary of the Delhi government, to head the committee, the Hindustan Times reported.
The committee will also comprise the the vice-chairperson of the Delhi Development Authority, the commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the police commissioner. It has been asked to submit its report to the court in eight weeks, Bar and Bench reported.
The court said that a fundamental problem in the city was that its physical, financial and administrative infrastructure were outdated and did not comply with the requirements of the present day.
“With population in excess of 3 crores, Delhi needs a more robust physical, financial and administrative infrastructure,” it said. “Due to various subsidy schemes, the migration in Delhi is only increasing and its population is also increasing.”
The bench said that the financial situation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was not healthy, adding that there were no funds with civic agencies to carry out major infrastructure projects.
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