A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked central government standing counsel Sanjeev Narula to seek instructions on the issue before the next date of hearing of PILs on preventing the spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue in the national capital.
When it was asked to bear the cost of a public awareness programme to be designed by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority on garbage disposal, the Delhi government said it was bearing all the expenses of paying the municipal corporations and other agencies, while receiving a paltry assistance from the Centre.
The Delhi government said that the high court in another matter had directed the Centre to implement the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission, but it has not been done.
This was submitted in response to the three municipal corporations' claim that they were not getting sufficient funds from the Delhi government as it was not implementing the Fourth Finance Commission.
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The Delhi government, represented by advocate Sanjoy Ghose, also told the bench that under the Swachh Bharat scheme, the Centre has released Rs 104 crore to the MCDs.
When the court asked the three municipal corporations what they were doing with the money they have received, the MCDs said that under the scheme, they cannot use it till they generate nearly twice that amount on their own.
The corporations said that under the scheme, for every Rs 100, 35 per cent comes from the Centre and Delhi government and the rest has to be generated by the MCDs.