"Clean Nagpur, Beautiful Nagpur" Only A Slogan, Reality Different: Bombay High Court Takes Cognisance Of Littered Streets Of Nagpur

While observing that despite publicity of the popular slogan 'Clean Nagpur, Beautiful Nagpur', the slogans remains only on the papers and the reality of the city can be seen on its streets, which are littered, the Bombay High Court recently took suo motu cognisance of the issue of 'cleanliness' in the city.A division bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Raj Wakode took suo motu cognisance of news articles published in two leading Marathi newspapers, which highlighted the issue of garbage lying open at various streets of Nagpur."Though we see hoardings and writings on the walls, giving a slogan 'Clean Nagpur, Beautiful Nagpur,' but in reality it has remained a slogan only. At numerous places in Nagpur one can see garbage is lying. There is a lot of problem therefore, of hygiene and cleanliness," the judges remarked in the order passed on February 5. The judges then discussed in brief about how the newspapers highlight the 'uncleanliness' on the streets of Nagpur and how the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) despite having a total of Rs 100 crores annual budget for 'collection of garbage' has failed to contain the issue and the same affects the health of the public at large. "The news items further disclose the annual budget of Nagpur Municipal Corporation for collection of garbage as Rs.100 crores and monthly Rs.8 crores for keeping the Nagpur city clean. Since such garbage creates lot of problems including health problem to the people and citizens of Nagpur, we treat these news items as Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation considering the issue raised in it as of public importance," the judges said.The bench therefore, appointed Advocate YN Sambre as an Amicus Curiae in the present matter and requested him to draft a proper petition highlighting the aforesaid issues as per the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Rules of 2010. The bench, therefore, ordered the Registry to register the news items as a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation (SMPIL) and to provide case papers to Sambre for drafting a proper petition. The bench would be conducting a hearing on the issue on February 24. Appearance:Additional Government Pleader SM Ukey represented the State. Advocate SM Puranik represented the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.Case Title: Court's on its own motion vs. The State of Maharashtra (SMPIL 11 of 2026)Click Here To Read/Download Order

"Clean Nagpur, Beautiful Nagpur" Only A Slogan, Reality Different: Bombay High Court Takes Cognisance Of Littered Streets Of Nagpur

Narsi Benwal

Tags