Anushka Mansharamani
The Delhi High Court sought a reply from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the three municipal corporations on the plea which claims contempt action against them for not adhering to the judicial orders and failing to ensure the earthquake-stability of the buildings in New Delhi.
A bench consisting of chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notices to the New Delhi Municipal Council, AAP, and the DDA regarding the plea filed by Arpit Bhargav.
Arpit Bhargav has claimed that the order passed by the court earlier was not obeyed, and the order on making the national capital ready to face any earthquake has not been fulfilled.
This order being referred to is the order that was passed by the High court in the PIL filed by Arpit Bhargav in 2015.
This petition filed is currently still pending in the High Court, and from time to time, the court has instructed the Delhi government and the civic authorities to develop a concrete action plan.
In June 2020, Delhi faced 11 minor tremors in 12 days. Therefore, Arpit Bhargav filed an application seeking a set-up of a monitoring committee that could monitor the buildings and ensure implementation of the plan as and when needed.
The court since then issued various other directions to the concerned authorities, asking them to do a survey to check whether the buildings in Delhi were compliant with the norms of seismic stability.
In the current plea filed against the authorities, Arpit Bhargav has stated that despite the orders passed by the High Court, the authorities have not shown any development to formulate and implement an action plan.
He lastly argued that there was a deliberate and willful violation of various orders passed by the court.