BENGALURU: Taking serious exception to the casual approach of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike towards people in nearly 500 containment zones in Bengaluru, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday issued to directions to the State government and the civic body to ensure timely delivery of food and other essential services.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar directed the BBMP Commissioner to file an affidavit regarding the delivery of food and essential services and place on record the number of people and the area affected by containment zones. The bench was hearing a batch of PILs on issues arising due to the pandemic.
BBMP counsel said that people in containment zones did not face any problems with regard to essentials. However, counsel for one of the petitioners who lives in a containment zone said they had no access to groceries. During the previous hearing, the bench had said that until an area was removed from the list of containment zones, the BBMP was obligated to deliver essential services according to its own guidelines and the circular issued by the State government. Failure to do so would be a violation of fundamental rights for which victims could claim compensation, the court said.The bench noted on Thursday that the report submitted by the BBMP Commissioner was very vague, casual and completely contrary to the guidelines and circular.