The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday asked Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar and the Namma Bengaluru Foundation to approach the Chief Secretary with their plea to evolve a standard operating procedure (SoP) for clearing encroachments on storm water drains (SWDs).
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath passed the order while disposing a PIL petition filed by Mr. Chandrasekhar and the Foundation.
The petitioners wanted the standard operating procedure to include a process for clearing encroachments, including rehabilitation of displaced families, identifying officials who failed to prevent encroachments immediately on discovery of encroachment, and launching criminal prosecution against erring officials.
Action sought
Though action was initiated against a few erring officials in the recent past, the petitioners pointed out that authorities had not acted against erring officials despite directives from the court in cases where children had died after falling into road-side drains that had been left uncovered.
