Waterlogged roads, potholes in Delhi, Mumbai invite SC criticism

The Supreme Court today took cognisance of widely published photographs of a bus submerged due to waterlogging at Minto road here and reports of people dying in mishaps due to potholes in Mumbai roads to question the kind of "governance" in Delhi and the western metropolis.

The civic authorities of these two metros drew sharp criticism from a bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta for waterlogging and potholes which paralyses the normal life of citizens during monsoon.

"A bus submerged underwater at Minto road. Is this the kind of governance we have in Delhi," the bench observed.

"In Mumbai, people are dying due to potholes in roads and the officials are counting potholes," it said, adding that according to reports, there were around 4,000 potholes in Mumbai.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, who was appearing for the Centre, termed these instances as "unfortunate" and also referred to the toxic foams in Bellandur lake at Bengaluru.

He said that it was "obnoxious" since people were living near the lake.

The bench also termed as serious the issue raised by the Attorney General.

The issue was raised during the hearing of sealing of unauthorised constrictions in Delhi and the court asked about utilisation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds by the lawmakers.

The toxic water in Bellandur lake, the biggest water body of Bengaluru, caught the attention of the authorities and the National Green Tribunal had in April slammed the Karnataka government over its action plan and formed a panel to inspect the lakes in the city.

The apex court, which passed a slew of directions in the Delhi sealing matter, said that the steps proposed to be taken in the national capital to deal with the issue should also be implemented in other cities, including Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The bench asked the Centre to issue advisory to the states in this regard.

The top court is dealing with the issue of validity of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations which protect unauthorised constructions from being sealed.