HC directs joint inspection by civic bodies at office of Bar Council of Delhi to tackle waterlogging

During the hearing, the counsels appearing for the various civic authorities — including the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — stated that they would “immediately look into the issue and take remedial action”.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula then said, “For this purpose as suggested by the counsels, let a joint inspection of the engineers — not below the rank of superintendent engineers of all the respondents — coordinate with each other, and fix up a time and date this week for the inspection of the petitioner’s premises and surrounding area and submit a report to the Court.”

The High Court said that the MCD engineer shall be the nodal officer for the inspection. It also said that at the time of the inspection, the Honorary Secretary of the BCD should also be present to point out the difficulties. “The respondents need not await further directions from the High Court to carry out the remedial measures,” the Court said.

Appearing for the BCD, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta said, “There is one problem. When we call MCD, they say the drain is with DDA. When we call DDA, they say we don’t know we have handed it over. They don’t know who has the drain which has to be cleaned. The only apprehension is that it may happen again.”

Gupta said that the authority concerned should ensure such an incident does not happen again.

The bar body stated that it had repeatedly been sending reminders to the respondent authorities to carry out an inspection to resolve the issue of water logging and to ensure a proper drainage system, but to no avail.

On the intervening night of June 27 and June 28, it further said, the office was engulfed by rainwater, which carried filth and garbage present on roads as well as drainage water. The bar body said that the records maintained by it were affected, which include “crucial data pertaining to the enrolment of lawyers”.

The body has further said that data maintained and stored by the BCD’s IT department in its computer systems was also destroyed as the basement was completely submerged with over 10 feet of water or muddy slush.

The High Court has listed the matter for the next hearing on July 30.