"One hand of the government does not know what the other hand is doing," Delhi High Court today said, rapping Delhi government's panel on unauthorised religious structures for not functioning properly leading to delay in completion of various infrastructural projects.
Justice Manmohan warned the committee, set up to look into unauthorised religious structures built on government lands, that he might order disbanding of the panel as it has not decided even half of the matters pending before it.
"One hand of the government does not know what the other hand is doing. I am surprised what you (committee) people are doing. The feeling is that you make an unauthorised structure and then further make a religious structure so that no one will touch it," the judge remarked.
Observing that there was no coordination among government agencies, the judge said, "I am candidly saying that nothing is happening in the religious committee. Its members are bureaucrats and they do not even bother to meet and when they meet, they defer the matter on one pretext or the other."
The court's observation came in a matter pertaining to infrastructural projects, one of which was pending since 1976, as there were several religious structures which were to be demolished for completion of the work.
"One project is stalled since 1976 because the committee has not done anything. We are sitting here and trying to complete the project through judicial orders. I am saying very politely, please set your house in order. A word should not go around that build a religious structure and nobody will touch you," the judge said.
"Infrastructure project is held up due to this. Government officers do not want to do their work. I will be constrained to say that the religious committee is not doing anything and it should be disbanded," the judge said.
"The religious committee of the government is not doing anything. I might express serious displeasure in my order and I might say this committee should be disbanded. You (members of the committee) are bureaucrats and you are doing nothing," the judge said, adding, "I do not understand what is going on in the committee.
The court said it has been dealing with such matters
since long and has noticed that the religious committee was not functioning properly.
"The main problem is that there is no coordination between the government agencies. The main grievance is that nothing is being done by the committee. You are not doing 50 per cent of your work and you have not decided even half of the matters which are pending before the committee," it said.
The court also said it had categorically stated about functioning of the committee in its earlier orders but despite that nothing was done.
"You cannot take this matter so lightly. These are issues relating to infrastructure projects which are required for Delhi," the court observed.
A senior official of Delhi government's Home department, who was present in the court, told the judge that they would deal with these issues within two weeks.
The court directed the government to file a report in this regard within two weeks.
