The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the city authorities to treat as representation a PIL seeking “accurate” data with respect to the spread of dengue this year.
The Delhi government standing counsel, at the outset, told a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma that filing a petition before the court can’t replace the procedure provided under the Right to Information Act but assured that the authorities will deal with the plea as a representation.
Counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi stated that the disease spread this year because of floods, and the petitioner should not have approached the court directly without seeking the information from the government authorities first.
The bench, comprising Justice Sanjeev Narula, observed that “everyone has the right to know” and asked the authorities to consider the PIL as a representation, as suggested.
In view of the stand taken by the government, the court stated that no further orders were required to be passed on the PIL. Petitioner Savera Sandesh, a local Hindi newspaper, stated in its petition that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi releases data every year with respect to dengue cases, but this year, for the first time, it stopped releasing the data.
The petition stated, “In case of dengue fever, almost every year MCD releases the data on a weekly basis, which helps the general public learn about cleanliness.”
It added, “The petitioner wished to publish through his newspaper the current data with respect to dengue fever in order to make local people aware… when he tried to take data from other newspapers and sources, he was stunned to know that MCD has not been releasing data about dengue fever since August 5, 2023.”
The petitioner alleged that there were more patients with dengue this year due to a severe strain of the virus, and as per MCD officers, “they are doing well to curb the menace of dengue fever, and there is no need to release the data.”