The Delhi High Court and National Green Tribunal (NGT) turned up the heat on the city’s civic bodies on Tuesday over the upcoming Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) polls. The Delhi High Court sought responses of the city police and civic bodies on a plea seeking ban on defacement of public properties by DUSU candidates while the NGT rapped authorities over the blatant use of paper in poll campaign.
Issuing notice to the Delhi University on the issue, a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also sought the responses from the DUSU and the University Grants Commission, asking them to appear before it on Wednesday. The NGT had earlier issued an order restraining the students’ body from using pamphlets and splattering the walls of the varsity campus with posters.
The order came after advocates Piyush Singh and Aditya Parola mentioned the matter before the bench and referred to media reports citing contempt of the tribunal’s 2015 order.
The directions came on a plea by Delhi University law student Nithin Chandran, who had approached NGT against indiscriminate wastage of paper during the students’ body elections.
Meanwhile, the high court expressed displeasure at the alleged inaction of authorities on use of spray paints, posters, banners and hoardings in and around the university campus walls and inside the classrooms.
It also issued notice to the authorities and asked them to inspect the area, where such posters have been put up by all the student wings of major political parties, who are contesting the DUSU election.
The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Prashant Manchanda alleging that disruption of the classrooms by the candidates and student outfits in “horrible shape and painting (walls) in the classrooms, deals a striking body blow to the Right to life, liberty and education of the students”.
He sought direction to the municipal bodies to slap heavy fines on the political parties and the candidates. It sought directions to the authorities to “refurbish and prevent further defacement of the properties by the DUSU political outfits and aspiring candidates”.
“The aggravated illegal and destructive activities by the DUSU candidates at the present humongous rate and scale which, if left unchecked, will cause further disruption to the tranquility and cleanliness of our city,” it added.
[“source=hindustantimes”]
