Encroachments: SC summons police chief

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 20

Non-implementation of the recommendations made by a task force in 2017 on removing encroachments and reducing traffic congestion in the capital has landed the Delhi Police Commissioner in trouble as the Supreme Court on Friday summoned him to explain the reasons behind the inaction.

A Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur sought the Commissioner ’s appearance after it found faults with the government’s affidavit on removal of encroachments which talked of long-term and short-term measures.

The long-term measures such as construction of foot-over bridges, flyovers and underpasses would take 18 to 24 months while short-term measures would take six months, the affidavit stated.

“That means people of Delhi will have to face bottlenecks for another two-three years…” the bench said, terming the affidavit as “vague”.

“It does not specify the time that will be taken to clear the streets or provide alternatives to vehicular parking that block the roads. You need to tell us how much time will be taken -- one month or two months …,” the Bench said and went on to summon the Delhi Police chief.

“For the sake of people of Delhi, let the Commissioner of Police come and tell us what is happening,” the Bench, also including Justice Deepak Gupta told advocate Wasim Qadri who submitted that regular drives were undertaken to remove encroachments.

As Qadri read out from the task force report and enumerated the measures it planned to undertake, Justice Gupta said, “This report was showed to us on February 17, 2017, which was my first day here. It has been more than a year. Please tell us how much of this report has been implemented.”

As it did not get any clear answers, the Bench said, “This shows you have done nothing….Please call the police commissioner.”

The Bench took exception to non-implementation of the task force report despite an order passed by it in May for removal of traffic bottlenecks in Delhi, identified as one of the main reasons behind pollution.

Qadri said apart from Traffic Police, the task force also included individuals from South Delhi Municipal Corporation, New Delhi Municipal Council and Public Works Department.

As he tried to shield the police chief by saying he was not the responsible authority, an anguished Bench said, “That is the problem in Delhi. Nobody is responsible. Should we call the Lieutenant Governor? Whom do you want us to call? We are also ready to call the peon who carries files because tomorrow you might come up and say the peon is responsible since he did not get the files on time.”