CHANDIGARH: Hearing a case related to the
blacklisting of public-toilet operator Selvel Media for allegedly not paying advertisement fee to the
municipal corporation, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court has observed that “the high court knows how to set the officers right”.
The court issued verbal orders to the MC to file a report by October 8 on why the inviting of tenders for the maintenance of public toilets in Chandigarh was postponed. The court came to know that the deadline for inviting the tenders was Wednesday and now the process stands deferred. The lawyer for private competitor Chetan Mittal submitted various photographs as evidence of the pathetic condition of public toilets in the city.
The bench observed that it was “unbelievable” how the MC had ignored the sufferings of the common man on account of the unavailability of public conveniences. It directed the civic body to drop its bureaucratic attitude. If the report is not submitted within 10 days, the high court will take up the matter under public-interest litigation.
At the last hearing, the high court had summoned the municipal commissioner for some answers about the blacklisting of Selvel Media, a private company that the MC had hired to operate and maintain public toilets in the city. Former Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) chief executive officer (CEO) had blacklisted the company on October 30, 2015, on the basis of submitted documents. The company challenged the decision in the high court, and the MC was forbidden from taking any coercive action against the firm, although no stay was granted.
In April, Selvel Media filed a petition before the high court for directions to quash the MC's order of handing over possession of toilet blocks and passages. A division bench led by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had earlier asked the municipal corporation for a reply.
