Delhi HC suggests electronic mode of fines for littering

Citizens can now on be fined on the spot for littering if Delhi High Court's suggestion to collect such fines through hand-held electronic devices, like the traffic cops, is accepted by the civic bodies.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar made the observation after it was told about the notification of the new solid waste management bye-laws which introduces user fees for using municipal services and imposes penalties for littering or violating waste management rules.
The fees and penalties under the bye-laws will see a five per cent per annum increase, Delhi government's additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghosh said.

The user fees range from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000 based on the nature of the premises, while the fines per default would range from Rs 200 to Rs 10,000 depending on the nature of violation and the type of building.
The monthly fines, applicable to resident welfare associations, gated communities or industrial units, range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,00,000, under the new bye-laws which the Delhi government notified on January 15.
The government told the court that any changes that the civic bodies have to make would have to be undertaken by the authority concerned in accordance with law.

The bench asked all authorities to file status reports indicating the working or implementation of the bye-laws and listed the matter for further hearing on February 27.

It also pointed out that it had not seen any advertisements in the media on ensuring cleanliness in the city and told the authorities to run ad campaigns similar to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan on toilets.
The court had last year ordered framing of draft bye-laws after environmental experts like Sunita Narain, Almitra Patel and M C Mehta, had claimed that a major challenge facing solid waste management was lack of such provisions.

The court is looking into the issue of solid waste management as it was of the view that garbage and lack of cleanliness contributed to spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya.
The view was expressed by the court during the hearing of two PILs by lawyers Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover who had sought directions to municipal bodies and other authorities to take steps to prevent the spread of dengue, chikungunya and malaria.