The dengue epidemic, the worsening law and order situation, the deplorable state of government-run hospitals, pollution are but four heads under which the court has been compelled to pull up the state government. The PILs and judgments -- from the Supreme Court, the High Court and trial courts -- clearly indicate that the judiciary had no option but to haul up a vacillating and indifferent administration.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Bar Council of India last month, Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand said: ``The judiciary does not tread into other fields, but it does wake up the executive from its deep slumber. The judiciary is not a time-keeper, but it will continue to be an alarm clock. By exercise of our judicial review, we only remind the bureaucrats what they are supposed to do''.

When onions disappeared from dining tables and the government failed to curb the spiralling prices of vegetables, a PIL was filed in the High Court by the All India Lawyers' Union. On October 5, a division bench comprising Justices Y.K. Sabharwal and K.S. Gupta issued notices to the chief secretary of the Delhi Government and the Union Agriculture Ministry to file an affidavit detailing the measures taken to prevent ``hoarding, blackmarketing and inadequate supply '' of essential commodities.

The notices were issued on a PIL seeking directions from the court to control the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, allegedly caused by the collusion of traders and their ``political masters''. The PIL was filed in view of the rising prices -- onions (Rs 40 per kg), potatoes (Rs 15), capsicum (Rs 45), ginger (Rs 50), cauliflower (Rs 40) -- over the past three months.

Delhi Government counsel Anil Grover argued that the government had taken certain steps to control prices, but it would be some time before these showed results. But the bench questioned: ``For the past one month we have been reading in the newspapers (about the government's claim) that the prices would go down tomorrow. If you are not sleeping, then what have you done till now?''

The courts stepped in again when the Capital was reeling under the fatal threat of epidemic dropsy, banning the sale of loose mustard oil. On August 25, a division bench comprising Justices Y.K. Sabharwal and K.S. Gupta summoned the director of the Prevention of Food Adulteration department. The court directed him to explain what steps were required to bring the situation under control.

When hospitals became cesspools of filth, Delhiites approached the court to ensure proper and safe medical care. On August 26, the High Court held the Delhi Government and the Centre responsible for the loss of hundreds of lives in the 1996 dengue epidemic. The government ``was in a total state of unpreparedness'' despite repeated warnings by the World Health Organisation, the court said, adding that it prepared action plans only in 1997 after being directed to do so by the court.

On January 12, the court observed in another case: ``If there is a Hell, it is right here at the capital's Rajan Babu TB Hospital''. It directed the hospital and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) authorities to drive out the dogs, monkeys and rats from the premises. Acting Chief Justice Mahinder Narain and Justice S.K. Mahajan were irked by the authority's admission that stray dogs slept on hospital beds and directed MCD officials to improve civic conditions within a week. The bench observed: ``The situation cannot be more deplorable than this.''

Another petition was moved by Lt Col Y.K. Wahi about the frightful conditions in the Safdarjung Hospital burns ward. The report submitted on April 20 by the fact-finding committee appointed by the court stated: ``The toilets were stinking and human excreta was found spread in the toilets and around it. Flying insects, cockroaches, rusted stretchers, dirty bed sheets and blankets and rusted almirahs were part of the pathetic state of affairs at the Safdarjung Hospital burns ward.''