Delhi High Court Issues Directions On Management Of Drainage System, Water Logging And Yamuna River Rejuvenation

The Delhi High Court has recently issued slew of directions on the management of drainage system in the national capital, rejuvenation of water bodies, Yamuna river including its flood plains and rain water harvesting.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that Delhi has been facing the fury of river Yamuna in spate year after year with last year being particularly bad.

Observing that waterlogging, flooding and related collapse of civic services have become perennial issues, the bench said there is an absolute lack of coordination between different agencies or departments.

“A mechanism to address the same with a unified command at an appropriate level of seniority, that can ensure inter- departmental / agency and inter-government coordination seamlessly, is the need of the hour,” the court said.

It added that management of drains by multiple agencies leads to blame game between agencies wherein one agency accuses others of shortfall in undertaking management activities.

The court said that it also makes it difficult to fix responsibility on the erring officials and the brunt of the resultant chaos is borne by the State and its citizens due to the collapse of the infrastructure.

“The city and its citizenry waits with apprehension when monsoons are approaching due to this mismanagement of drains while the administrative agencies have been adopting an Ostrich like approach wishing the flooding won't happen. There is a need for a vision by the administrators to manage the present needs and anticipate the future,” the court said.

Furthermore, the court took judicial notice of the flooding of the carriageway and bungalows in the High Court pool at Purana Quila Road and Mathura Road in last year monsoon.

It added that there is no dispute that multiplicity of authorities has resulted in mismanagement of drains and that all such drains finally outfall in the river Yamuna, in the process, not only polluting it, but ultimately making the people of Delhi suffer.

The court directed the Delhi Government to assign the responsibility of management and operations of all 22 open drains, which are out falling in river Yamuna, to one Department or Agency.

The bench asked the Delhi Government to identify such Department or Agency and orders be issued regarding the same by April 30.

The court was informed that out of 1,367 water bodies, ground truthing was completed for 344 water bodies and that 272 water bodies have been restored. It was further apprised that restoration of 72 water bodies is in progress and several water bodies, out of the total, do not exist on ground as on date.

The court directed the Delhi Government to complete the geo-tagging and geo-referencing for ground truthing of remaining 1023 water bodies by May 15. It further directed that estimates for rejuvenation of water bodies, after ground truthing, be prepared May 30.

“Also, it is important to ensure that the rejuvenated water bodies are maintained properly and remain encroachment free. Therefore, the GNCTD shall take appropriate measures for making entries of waterbodies in revenue records, by assigning responsibilities of each of such water body to specific officer, who shall visit such water body every fortnight to ensure its upkeep. Also, public participation may be explored by the GNCTD in such operation and maintenance activities of water bodies,” the bench said.

It constituted a district level committee as well as a NCT of Delhi level committee which shall be responsible for execution of the projects.

The bench further directed the Delhi Government to ensure that rain water harvesting systems be provided at 1362 government buildings by September 30.

It added that the Delhi Government shall explore creating rain water harvesting systems or pits in low lying areas to capture the rainwater during the forthcoming monsoon session and ensure public participation to make it a mass movement.

The bench also directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), in coordination with all concerned agencies, to ensure removal of encroachments from Yamuna River Flood Plains.

The court said that it is necessary to do green development of the banks of the Yamuna as wetlands and public spaces, parks for open green spaces, access to civic amenities, zones of entertainment or playgrounds for the children.

“A large number of religious devotees pray at different locations, discharging solid waste in the river water, adding to an already serious problem. Recognising this need of the residents of the State, DDA should construct select number of ghats or platforms on stilts along the riverbank, for such purposes to ensure that the devotees get space and the authorities are able to deal with the challenge of waste scientifically,” the court said.

It added that DDA shall ensure removal of construction waste or debris from the Yamuna river accumulated during constructions of bridges, rail lines, metro lines, regional rail network, etc.

“GNCTD is directed to undertake requisite work for capturing sewage in the unauthorised colonies and Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) clusters as per its existing policy so as to ensure that 100% sewage can be captured and untreated sewage is not dumped into river Yamuna, but rather diverted to in situ waste treatment plants and only treated water is released into Yamuna,” it said.

The court also directed the Delhi Government to submit an action taken report and an action plan on 105 water logging locations reported by the Delhi Traffic Police in 2022 where action is yet to be taken.

The court said that the report will include details of the action taken report and an action plan on 200 water logging locations reported by the Delhi Traffic Police last year.

It added that the Delhi Police shall assist during implementation of such plans to ensure delivery of a well-managed city as opposed to vision of a city submerged in monsoons.

The matter will now be heard on May 20.

The court was dealing with a suo motu PIL initiated by it in 2022 over lack of rainwater harvesting efforts taken by the authorities and huge traffic snarls, especially during monsoon.

Earlier, the bench had rapped the civic authorities over the issue of water-logging and said that the drainage system here is “totally pathetic” and is in “very bad state of affairs.”

The suo motu PIL was initiated after the court took note of an article published in the Times of India on June 18, 2022.

Case Title: COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION v. GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 427

Click here to read order