New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) Citizens can now on be fined onthe spot for littering if Delhi High Court's suggestion tocollect such fines through hand-held electronic devices, likethe traffic cops, is accepted by the civic bodies.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice CHari Shankar made the observation after it was told about thenotification of the new solid waste management bye-laws whichintroduces user fees for using municipal services and imposespenalties for littering or violating waste management rules.
The fees and penalties under the bye-laws will see a fiveper cent per annum increase, Delhi government's additionalstanding counsel Sanjoy Ghosh said.
The user fees range from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000 based on thenature of the premises, while the fines per default wouldrange from Rs 200 to Rs 10,000 depending on the nature ofviolation and the type of building.
The monthly fines, applicable to resident welfareassociations, gated communities or industrial units, rangefrom Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,00,000, under the new bye-laws whichthe Delhi government notified on January 15.
The government told the court that any changes that thecivic bodies have to make would have to be undertaken by theauthority concerned in accordance with law.
The bench asked all authorities to file status reportsindicating the working or implementation of the bye-laws andlisted the matter for further hearing on February 27.
It also pointed out that it had not seen anyadvertisements in the media on ensuring cleanliness in thecity and told the authorities to run ad campaigns similar tothe Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan on toilets.
The court had last year ordered framing of draft bye-lawsafter environmental experts like Sunita Narain, Almitra Pateland M C Mehta, had claimed that a major challenge facing solidwaste management was lack of such provisions.
The court is looking into the issue of solid wastemanagement as it was of the view that garbage and lack ofcleanliness contributed to spread of vector-borne diseaseslike dengue and chikungunya.
The view was expressed by the court during the hearing oftwo PILs by lawyers Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover who hadsought directions to municipal bodies and other authorities totake steps to prevent the spread of dengue, chikungunya andmalaria. PTI HMP PPSARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.