[Dengue] Close monitoring required by court to check menace on permanent basis: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently emphasised on the need for it to closely monitor the menace of vector-borne diseases like Dengue and Malaria, so that the authorities could deal with them on a more permanent basis (South Delhi Municipal Corporation vs. Government of NCT of Delhi)..In light of the increasingly high number of dengue cases in the capital, a Division Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh ordered:"To assist the Court in dealing with the menace of large scale breeding of mosquitoes in Delhi, which results in vector borne diseases such as Malaria, Chikungunya and Dengue every year and causes numerous fatalities every year, in our view, it is necessary that the said issue regarding mosquito breeding is monitored closely by the Court so that the systems are put in place by all the three Corporations, the New Delhi Municipal Council, the Delhi Cantonment Board, and by the GNCTD, and the said menace can be checked on a more permanent basis.".The Court proceeded to appoint Advocate Rajat Aneja as amicus curiae in the matter. It also stated that it could seek the assistance of experts in the field like Dr Kalpana Barua of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, or any other expert, at the time of hearing the petition..The Bench was hearing a petition filed by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) primarily challenging cabinet decisions taken by the Delhi government in relation to the Basic Tax Assignment and other aspects of the Grants-In-Aid. In its order passed last week, it separated these aspects from those related to mosquito breeding in Delhi, and directed the Registry to register a separate writ petition on the latter.The Court added:"A copy of the last order passed by us, and all the affidavits/reports filed in pursuance thereof, and the minutes of the meeting be taken off from the record of the present writ petition, and be placed in the new writ petition to be registered along with the copy of this order.".Thereafter, the matter was directed to be placed before the Chief Justice on the administrative side so that the present writ petition can be heard by another Bench which is hearing a plea regarding the Dengue outbreak. The matter will be heard next on January 12.Advocates Sanjeev Sagar and Nazia Parveen appeared for the SDMC and NDMC. Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra along with Additional Standing Counsel Gautam Narayan and Advocate Asmita Singh appeared for the Delhi government..During the last hearing, the Delhi High Court had pulled up the city's three municipal corporations as well as the Aam Aadmi Party government for their failure to control the spread of Dengue.The Bench had remarked that policies were being made in populist ways and that the governments were scared of doing anything that would lose them votes..Counsel representing SDMC had asked the Court to pass an order to increase the monetary limit on challans issued to residents.In response, the Bench had remarked that the reason the Court was being asked to do this was because the authorities feared that if they did anything, people would not vote for them.“We agree that there should be a deterrent. In our society, people do not understand unless there is a deterrent. We cannot go and legislate on this issue… You have become so populist that you think if we do anything, people won’t vote for us. Policies are being made in a populist way,” the Bench had remarked.Justice Sanghi had added, "If Only elections were fought and won or lost on real issues, we would have a different city. It doesn’t work that way. Today they are being fought on what is free.".The Court further noted that most drains in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation's area were open and the “stench was unbearable”.It added that there was a complete paralysis in civic administration as no one was bothered about the deaths, and officials were living with the attitude that since there is a large population, the disease will come and go.“Please understand that the number of people who have been caught with Dengue and the number of fatalities this year is unprecedented. It is not like Covid-19 that it was for the first time. How is it that despite having science and technology and machines and manpower this problem cannot be addressed? Since 2013. there have been orders passed by this Court, yet it is not under control,” Justice Singh had said..[Dengue outbreak] Policies are populist, governments scared of losing votes: Delhi High Court.Read order here