MCD's disaster mngt plan to be under Delhi govt control:Centre

The Centre today told Delhi High Court that municipal corporations would formulate plans to implement the national building code and disaster preparedness under the "superintendence and control" of Delhi government.
The Centre also told a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva that being a union territory, the government of national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) would mean the Lt Governor along with the council of ministers.
The submission was made in response to the court's query at the last date of hearing, as to who had the administrative control of municipal corporations -- the Centre or the city government.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Arpit Bhargava questioning how safe were the buildings in Delhi if an earthquake, like that in Nepal, hit it.
The Centre had told the court that the issues raised in the PIL are covered by the building regulations chapter in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and added that the provisions have to be enforced by the commissioners of the corporations "under the general superintendence, direction and control of GNCTD".
The court had sought the clarification after the Centre had referred to minutes of a meeting of November 18 last year, with regard to creating a plan to make buildings in Delhi compliant with the national building code. It had said the MCDs fell under Delhi government's control and thus the city administration should make the plan of action.

Delhi government, however, had said the MCDs did not come under it but if the court directs, it was willing to take over their control.
Observing that Delhi fell in the high risk seismic zone IV, the court had earlier given the Centre three weeks to submit an action plan to ensure that buildings in the city survived an earthquake like the one that rocked Nepal and Afghanistan last year.
Terming as "unsatisfactory" what has been done till now by the Centre as well as by various government bodies in the national capital, it had asked the authorities and civic agencies to hold consultations amongst themselves to come up with a proposal to tackle the issue.