Delhi Govt. seeks time for relocation of industries

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. Even as the Supreme Court found fault with the Delhi Government for not complying with its order to relocate the polluting industries, the State Government pleaded for granting time till 2002 to complete the exercise.

A Bench, comprising Mr. Justice B. N. Kirpal, Mr. Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr. Justice Brijesh Kumar, did not agree with the submissions made on behalf of the Delhi Government that it could not implement the Court order, as it faced a huge exercise of shifting over one lakh industries which fed 20 lakh workers.

The Bench shot back and said ``we are also equally concerned with the livelihood of the workers. If you are not implementing the orders you should have apprised us and come to court for a proper order. You should have taken us into confidence before deciding not to close the polluting industries.'' When senior advocate, Mr. K. K. Venugopal, arguing for the Delhi Government, pointed out that quarterly status reports were filed on compliance of court orders and that the Court did not point out that it had failed to obey orders, the Bench asked ``is it our duty to point out to you.''

The Bench was hearing the show cause notice for contempt to the Chief Secretary, Delhi Government, and the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for not complying with the Court order. The Chief Secretary, Mr. P. S. Bhatnagar and the MCD Commissioner, Mr. S. P. Aggarwal, were present in the court today.

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Section  : National
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