Judges Pull Up Dvb For Power Cut At Aiims

The crippling power and water shortage in the capital has become a subject of public interest litigation in the Supreme Court with the judges themselves acting suo motu (on their own) to restart the functioning of the operation theatres in the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences.

The judges yesterday gave a stern warning to the Delhi Vidyut Board for forcing the closure of the operation theatres of the prestigious hospital here and told it to restore normal power supply by this evening. The court took the rare step of issuing suo motu notice to the board and the New Delhi Municipal Committee after reading newsreports about the stoppage of vital operations because of power cuts which has become part of the life in capital.

Chief Engineers of both the DVB and NDMC were called by the bench consisting of Justice G T Nanavati and Justice S Saghir Ahmad. But both of them tried to pass the buck on each other prompting the judges to remark that they were taking a "negative and bureaucratic approach".

The judges adjourned the hearing till Monday and told the DVB to give power to the hospital at 33 KV or in any case at 31 KV so that the vital services would not be disturbed. They also asked the board to take steps to instal additional transformer immediately. The NDMC has been directed to instal sufficient capacitors for boosting the voltage supplied to the hospital. The court also asked the chief engineers of all the organisations concerned to meet and solve the problem faced by the national research hospital and report the decisions to the court by Monday.

The judges told the DVB and NDMC that if proper steps were not taken immediately, they would be compelled to hold a high power enquiry and nail the persons responsible.

During the hearing, lawyers tried to raise the issue of water shortage also. They pointed out that the water board had claimed a right to charge the citizens for water even if it could supply it only for 30 hours in 30 days. The judges told the lawyers that they could file separate petitions, "as many as you like", about the water problem faced by Delhi citizens, and they would be heard on Monday.