The Delhi High Court is scheduled to take up the matter next week on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Sidharth Extension (Pocket-A) Residents' Welfare Association for failure on part of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to complete their colony's sewerage system.

Though the colony developed by the DDA was handed over to the civic agency way back in May 1993 and Rs 26 lakh were paid to it for completing the outfall of the colony's sewage with sewer mains, the MCD sat over the proposal even as the colony got fully inhabited.

However, what prompted the PIL for directions to the MCD to complete the sewerage and compensate the citizens for this ``serious'' lapse was the inundation of the entire block under 3-feet of stinking sewage following heavy showers on September 23 last year, leading to serious inconvenience and financial loss to residents there.

Justice C.K. Mahajan on October 26 directed the authorities to file an affidavit by November 18, explaining what they have done so far to complete the colony's sewerage system. As the execution of the plan finally gets underway, following a slew of court orders directing the authorities to do so promptly, the court will take up the issue of compensation to the residents.

Advocate L.K. Garg, representing the Sidharth Extension residents' welfare association, has supported the demand for compensation, invoking Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees Fundamental Rights to the citizens, saying that the MCD's inaction and the consequences of that inaction had resulted in the violation of the citizens' Fundamental rights. He has also quoted several orders passed by the High Court in the past, wherein public agencies were severally pulled up and asked to compensate the public for having caused serious inconveniences, financial loss or the loss of life.

Garg has petitioned the High Court to appoint a registrar or joint registrar as a Commissioner, at the respondents' cost, to ascertain the extent of damage suffered by the residents of Sidharth Extension, Pocket-A. An inquiry, he said, should also be ordered into the causes of such an inordinate delay in providing the sewer outfall, despite the fact that Rs 26 lakh provided for the purpose was lying unused all along. And disciplinary action should be taken against those responsible for the lapse.

``Since the colony sewer had no outfall, the residents of 192 flats have all these years been living in unhygienic conditions facing serious risks to their health due to frequent (sewage) water logging and contamination of the drinking water,'' the petitioners have claimed. Their petitions to the local municipal officials, the Municipal Commissioner, Municipal Councillor, legislator and the MP, they added, had failed to elicit any response from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The agency has since invited the tenders and started work on the site.

`involve the citizens'
The petitioners have asked for directions from the Delhi High Court asking MCD to actively involve residents in the planning and provision of civic amenities in the Capital to avoid examples like Sidharth Extension.

The lawyer representing the residents' association, L.K. Garg, said joint committees including local residents and statutory civic authorities should plan each service and then invite tenders for its execution.

``The requisite funds collected from the public for providing these services should be deposited in a bank account opened in the name of these committees and all the payments should be released by cheques signed jointly by all the committee members to rule out any corruption,'' he suggested, adding that the practice was common in several American states, including Washington.

To support his assertion, Garg has cited the example of ``hundreds of colonies developed by the Delhi Development Authorities (DDA) that are inhabited without most basic amenities like sewers, motorable roads and potable water.''

These colonies were transferred to the MCD for provision and maintenance of basic civic amenities, along with the public funds required for the purpose.