Delhi's disappearing dustbins a daylight robbery, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought response from civic agencies on a petition alleging disappearance of dustbins from the capital.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul took strong note of disappearance of dustbins, and said it was a "daylight robbery".

The bench issued notice to the civic bodies - South, East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations - and asked them to appraise it if they have put dustbins in all areas under their jurisdiction.

The court posted the matter for further hearing for Jan 21.

The court's direction came on a petition filed by Sharad Tiwari and Sanjeev Agnihotri, who alleged that dustbins from their locality were recently removed and this was happening all over the city.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Sugriva Dubey said the civic bodies had purchased around 10,000 dustbins for the capital from a particular company, which was to provide the dustbins as well as engage trucks for collection and removal of garbage from the dustbins.

The court asked the agencies to also state in their affidavits the number of trucks used for removing garbage from dustbins and whether there was a specific duty cycle for collection and removal of waste.

"The MCDs have not worked. There is a lot of pomp and show at the launch of a scheme and everyone shows up for taking photographs but nothing happens thereafter," the court observed.

The plea asked the court to direct the civic bodies to provide dustbins on each street of the capital.

It said 70 percent of the trucks carrying garbage were in a broken and badly damaged condition.