The Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi today informed the Supreme Court that an experts committee would be constituted to deal with all aspects relating to solid waste management in the national capital.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta observed that the issue of solid waste management in Delhi was "serious" and said the committee would have to meet on a day-to-day basis to take stock of the situation.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand, appearing for the LG's office, and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae, placed before the bench the names of persons who could be made members of the committee.
The ASG said that persons engaged in business enterprises or having any commercial interest should not be made members of the panel and the names suggested by them should also have people from the resident welfare association (RWAs).
"How often are they (committee) going to meet? They will have to meet every day," the bench observed.
"It (meeting) has to be on a day-to-day basis. They have to visit the sites, find out what needs to be done. It will not be a bureaucratic kind of a committee. The issue is serious," the bench observed.
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During the hearing, the bench observed that bureaucrats would be there in the committee and the members should try to "work together" to deal with the serious issue.
The bench asked the ASG and the amicus to find out whether the persons, who are residing outside Delhi and whose names have been suggested for the committee, could do this work on a day-to-day basis.
"They will have to come every day for meetings. You will have to give them office space. Almost 20 persons are there. It is a serious thing and not a one-time thing," the bench said.
The amicus told the court that he would find out from those residing outside Delhi as to whether they could attend the meetings daily.
At the fag end of hearing, the amicus said travelling expenses and hotel costs for those committee members, who are residing out of Delhi, should be given.
The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on August 29.
The top court had on August 17 asked the LG to constitute a committee to go in depth into all aspects of solid waste management in Delhi including cleaning up the landfill sites at Gazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla and frame a workable and implementable policy.
The court had said that problem of solid waste in Delhi was "very critical" and cooperation of citizens was needed to deal with it.
The apex court had earlier said that Delhi was facing an "emergency situation" due to the mountains of garbage.
The issue of waste management had cropped up when the court was dealing with a tragic matter of 2015 in which it had taken cognisance of the death of a seven-year-old boy due to dengue.
The victim had been allegedly denied treatment by five private hospitals here and his distraught parents had subsequently committed suicide.
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