(S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, JJ.)
SMW (C) No(s). 1/2015, decided on August 17, 2018
In Re: Outrage as Parents End Life After Childs Dengue
(With IA 107306/2018, 108936/2018, 115651/2018)
The Order of the court was delivered by
Order
1. We have gone through the Report prepared by Ragini Jain and Almitra H. Patel in five volumes and we have also gone through the affidavit filed by the SDMC and EDMC.
2. In our opinion, prima facie, it appears that the problem of solid waste management in Delhi will certainly require the active cooperation and assistance of the residents of Delhi considering the fact that the position is very critical.
3. Keeping this in mind and the fact that the Office of Lt. Governor has stated that the Lt. Governor is incharge of overseeing solid waste management in Delhi, we request the Lt. Governor of Delhi to constitute a Committee to go in depth into all aspects of solid waste management in Delhi including cleaning up the dumpsites in Gazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla and frame a workable and implementable policy.
4. In our opinion, the Committee should consist of experts in the field, even if they are from outside Delhi and members of civil society in Delhi including residents’ welfare association and other persons, official or non-official, that the Lt. Governor may choose to co-opt on the Committee. In other words, the Committee must be broad-based.
5. Since the issues are of considerable importance and will require some time to get resolved, we request the Lt. Governor and the Committee constituted by him not to rush into taking a decision one way or the other, but to analyse and fully consider all aspects of the matter so that the problem of solid waste management in delhi is taken care of to the satisfaction of everybody, more particularly the residents of Delhi.
6. We expect the decision making process in the Committee to be collaborative and to be conducted in a manner that will take the cleaning up of Delhi forward rather than creating hurdles in the issue of solid waste management. The approach to policy making must be positive.
7. Learned Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Lt. Governor says that she will discuss the matter with the Lt. Governor and come back to us within a week.
8. In the meanwhile, learned amicus curiae may suggest the names of a few people, say about 4 or 5 people from civil society and experts who can actively participate as members of the Committee in providing an action plan.
9. List the matter on 27th August, 2018.
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