New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a tongue-lashing to the Centre, Delhi government and civic agencies for their failure to stop unauthorised constructions in the national capital, saying that “lungs” of the citizens, especially children, were “damaged” due to inaction of the authorities.
The top court was critical of the continuous inaction by the authorities and said that the people of Delhi were suffering with problems such as pollution, parking and lack of green areas due to the issues arising out of unauthorised constructions.
“People of Delhi are suffering. Children are suffering. Our lungs are already damaged. Lungs of our children will also be damaged. Why? Because the Union of India, Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) say you can do whatever you want but we will not do anything,” a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.
The apex court told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A N S Nadkarni, representing the Centre, that unless the authorities would realise that the people of Delhi were important, nothing would change.
Nadkarni suggested that the top court should monitor the situation and the authorities should be asked to perform their duties in a time-bound manner.
“We are not policemen. Why should we do it?,” the bench asked, adding, “Does the Supreme Court has nothing more to do?”.