Mayur Vihar deaths: Delhi HC hits out at MCD, says ‘They think doing work is a crime’

The Delhi High Court was hearing a PIL on the July 31 incident when a mother and her three-year-old son died after slipping into an open drain in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar. Hearing a public interest litigation highlighting an incident from July 31 when a woman and her three-year-old son died after slipping into an open drain in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday called for video recordings of the site from the investigating officer, as mandated under the new criminal laws. The court also went on to lambast the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for their negligence and implored the civic body to immediately conduct a vigilance inquiry. The court of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela called for the investigating officer and the concerned deputy commissioner of police’s presence in the court post-lunch. After the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) informed the court that while the bodies were found in the drain that falls under its jurisdiction, they fell in the drain under the MCD’s jurisdiction, acting Chief Justice Manmohan orally questioned why such jurisdictional “blackholes” are continuing. The DDA informed the court that it had handed over part of the drain and the road along it to MCD in April 2023. Referring to pictures of the site, the court expressed its shock at the amount of garbage and questioned why the drain was not barricaded.

“Why can’t this place be cleaned up…covering the drain will be a contract worth over Rs 5 crores?… What have they (the contractor responsible for maintaining the drain) done? Barricade it no? Why was it not barricaded and why is it so dirty and why the C&D debris there?…Look at the debris that’s there, it seems it has not been cleaned for a year…this doesn’t happen in a day…this is for years,” acting Chief Justice Manmohan orally remarked, questioning the MCD. “Who are you paying? You are paying someone who is not doing their job…You must get this area barricaded…suppose there is another shower, there will be another incident…these people are fighting (DDA and MCD) among themselves…you have a vigilance department in MCD, have you asked them to verify the bills (of the contractor)? Are you paying for getting work done or for not getting work done?…You are asking us to go to extreme steps…you don’t have courage to take action…there’s no brotherly love over here…your officers have become goody goody…look at the shocking state of affairs…no wonder we have dengue, chikungunya…just see these photographs…it’s shocking…,” he added. “Your senior officers are not exercising their power of supervision…I don’t know if your office people come to office and do some work…see how much of waste is lying over there… From April 2023 till now, what have you done on this stretch of road? Your AE, JE, EE have not done it…if they did not do it, they should’ve been shown the door…why are senior officers not taking action…they think doing work is a crime…virtually in each and every matter there cannot be a blackhole in the city…No one takes action against each other, what do you do? It’s not supposed to be a cosy club, it is not supposed to be a cosy club…lives are being lost in the process..2 lives had to be lost to understand the gravity…every day we are losing lives due to negligence.”

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