Unhappy over the indifference of Delhi's civic agencies towards maintaining children's parks, the Delhi High Court has stressed upon the need for having open space for development of mental and physical health of children.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw directed that laid down policy be followed by all government agencies in this regard within three months and asked the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) to see whether these are implemented.
"In an age of cable TV, Nintendos, Facebook and YouTube, the importance of the parks, rather than diminishing, has increased manifold. The growing population of the city with consequent demand on housing has reduced most residences to cubbyholes with no windows even, what to talk of open spaces. The only place where a child can have a breath of fresh air is the park," the bench said.
It said that if the "governmental agencies entrusted with upkeep and maintenance of the said parks also treat them merely as open spaces which cannot be built up on, then the children will be left with no place to go to".
"There is another aspect. City kids cannot be taken to the wilderness regularly. However, thoughtful innovation can bring exciting chunk of nature to such parks. It cannot also be forgotten that we are also landed with the issue of a large number of street children in the city, who have no other place than such parks to turn to for their entertainment," it said.
The high court passed the order after it had taken up the issue after a letter highlighting poor condition of children's parks in the national capital was written by Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph.
The bench directed the government agencies to designate an officer, who will be personally responsible for enforcement of the policy approved by it, saying the officer will be held responsible in the event of any breach.
