HC turns down trust's plea for relief work in Chandni Mahal red zone

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday turned down a petition by a trust seeking permission to enter the Chandni Mahal containment zone in the city's central part in order to to provide relief material.

Dismissing the petition, a single judge bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar said: "The plea is bereft of substance and such petitions have the propensity to seriously impede the efforts of the authorities."

The bench also stated that there is no substance to show that essential commodities are not being made available to all persons located in the Chandni Mahal containment area by the authorities.

The observations came as the court heard a plea filed by the Civilian Welfare and Development Trust seeking permission to enter the Chandni Mahal containment zone to distribute ration and other material stored in its warehouses there.

The high court said such pleas "cannot be styled as public interest litigations, but are, in fact, inimical to public interest".

Justice Shankar also noted in his order that he had on April 15 dismissed a similar plea of the same trust with costs of Rs 10,000, but it was again raising the issue now.

Responding to the observations made by the court, the trust argued that earlier it had not brought in the provisions of the Disaster Management Act before the court, and that the said provisions would permit the organisation to access the area.

However, the court refuted to the submissions made by the petitioner adding that "the very purpose of designating an area as a 'containment area' is to ensure that ingress and egress of the public, to and from such area, is avoided".

The court also said that it had already once imposed costs on the trust, and so it was refraining from doing so once again thought it was totally justified. IANS