The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the municipal corporations in Delhi to file fresh status reports pertaining to the number of CNG and electric cremation grounds along with the number of functional units at the said cremation grounds under them in a petition seeking an increase in the number of crematorium and introduction of methodology/uniform policy for cremation.
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla has further directed the municipal bodies to state the steps taken to move away from using wood for burning dead bodies.
The Acting Chief Justice while directing to file the status report told the advocates of the municipal corporations to forget the Covid aspect of the case and look into it from a fresh stand point.
The Court was hearing a petition that had been filed due to the “overwhelming” deaths in the second Covid-19 wave. The petition stated that “due to an acute shortage of hospital beds and other necessities such as testing kits and oxygen supply, there have been an overwhelming number of deaths in the country, especially in the national capital region”.
The petition had also sought an interim order directing the AAP government to increase the number of cremation grounds temporarily. Hence, a temporary increase in the number of cremation sites, grounds, burial sites is necessitated, read the petition.