Supreme Court seeks answers from Centre, Delhi govt on landfill sites

Kumar replied he would need to take instruction on the issue so as to apprise the bench of steps being taken to remove and dispose garbage from the landfill sites. “On the next date of hearing, we will come up with the instructions whether these landfill sites can be moved to some other place and what are the steps being taken to remove the garbage,” he added.

Kumar said a meeting on October 6 between the Lieutenant Governor, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others could not take place as the CM was unwell and a meeting in this regard was held on October 16. He informed the bench that various issues, including disposal and cleaning of garbage and sewer, were discussed in the meeting, and also filed the minutes of the meeting in the court.

The counsel for the Delhi government told the bench that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had attended the meeting on behalf of Kejriwal as the CM was in Gujarat.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is an amicus curiae in the matter, could not attend the proceedings and the bench posted the matter for October 21.

On October 6, the court had said it was “quite disappointed with the outcome” of a meeting held to chalk out an effective strategy to deal with outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in Delhi. It had directed the authorities to meet again in the evening that day and make “consultative, collaborative and cooperative” efforts to help people. The bench had regretted that authorities in the national capital did not appear to be interested at all in taking swift measures, and added that people had been “left to suffer”.

Meanwhile, for the second consecutive week, Delhi has recorded a drop in the number of chikungunya cases. According to the latest data released by the MCD till October 15, 713 fresh cases of chikungunya were reported in the capital, as compared to 1,419 cases reported in the previous week.