NEW DELHI: Slamming the municipal corporations for wasting public money, the Delhi high court on Wednesday said safai karamcharis must be removed if the 60,000 strong force can’t keep the city clean.

“If they are not working, why waste public money on them? Just leave them,” a bench of justices B D Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul remarked while adding that safai karamcharis are mostly invisible in the field.

The bench then ordered the three corporations to inform it of how much work is accomplished and how much area is covered by a worker each day. The court also asked to be apprised of whether corporations have a mechanism to monitor work done in the time between which safai karamcharis punch in and punch out on the biometric system.

“Corporations are not doing their job. Safai karamcharis should carry out the work entrusted to them and should not become political agents. If they are not doing their work, then why are they employed? If there is a safai karamchari posted in every municipal zone, then why is there no cleanliness? Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not going to kick off in this manner,” the bench observed.

HC further told the director, Department of Environment Management Services (DEMS) to be present on December 8 and inform the court about the status of safai karamcharis and the work done by them. While the MCD counsel tried to assure the court that a biometric attendance system is in place to ensure that karamcharis are on duty, the judges were skeptical and remarked how these employees consider the job to be a nine-to-five one.

“Have you ever been to a private organization? Employees clean all the time. Municipal magistrates are supposed to check and monitor the cleaning done by them,” the bench noted, while asking the petitioner NGO Nyay Bhoomi to respond to claims made by MCD in their affidavits.

The NGO had filed the restoration plea alleging that government agencies have failed to improve the conditions in the city despite a 1996 Supreme Court observation that the “historical city of Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the most polluted cities in the world”. Sharan (86), representing the NGO, had pointed out the poor state of public toilets, infrastructure and facilities in health and educational institutions. Highlighting the apex court’s observations, the petition had said, “It (SC) had issued 14 directions to the municipal corporations and New Delhi Municipal Council to improve the conditions in the city and maintain hygiene”.

Any sweeper not found present on duty can be awarded jail term of up to 30 days by municipal magistrates under Section 387 of MCD Act.

