New Delhi, Dec 4 (PTI) The Delhi High Court todayexpressed displeasure over keeping a donation box at MahatmaGandhi's memorial at Rajghat here, saying this was a"disrespectful" gesture to the Father of the Nation.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice CHari Shankar sought to know from the Rajghat SamadhiCommittee, which maintains the memorial, who had installed thedonation box and where do the funds collected in it go.
To this, the counsel for Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) said it was put up by the Harijan SevakSangh, founded by Mahatma Gandhi himself, and the money goesto the organisation.
The bench observed that the charity box should not havebeen kept at the Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.
"Is this the respect we are giving to the memorial of theFather of the Nation which is visited by the citizens of Indiaas well as those from abroad. It deserves every respect andrequires to be properly maintained by all concerned," it said.
The bench directed the petitioner's counsel to personallyverify the actual position related to the public amenities andmaintenance of Rajghat and inform the Chief Engineer of CPWD,who will ensure its restoration.
It ordered that the Rajghat Samadhi Committee'ssecretary should ensure that the complaints in this regard areaddressed at the earliest.
The court sought a compliance report before the next dateof hearing, January 30 next year.
The court on November 24 had directed the ChiefEngineer, CPWD to personally inspect the Rajghat Samadhi andall related premises.
It had asked the authorities to place the details ofthe works which were required to be completed at Rajghat aswell as the timelines within which these shall be completed.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL)alleging that the monument set up in the memory of MahatmaGandhi was not being properly maintained.
Petitioner Shyam Narayan Chouksey has claimed that thememorial "was not at all being properly and cleanlymaintained", and despite being brought to the notice of theCommittee and Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), there hasbeen no change in the situation.
In the PIL, Chouksey has submitted the photos of variousdeficiencies that he had come across during his visit to themonument in 2014 and then again in 2015 and 2016, when heclaimed the situation had worsened.
Referring to deficiencies, he has alleged there werebetel stains at the entrance, broken floor tiles, rubbishlying all around the monument, the white marble has turnedblack due to lack of cleaning while the green carpet laid forvisitors to walk was damaged.
Two toilets were in very poor condition and unclean andat many places sewage lines are exposed and filled withgarbage, becoming "breeding place for mosquitoes and otherinsects". PTI PPS SKV HMPARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.