The Meghalaya High Court has recently disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) raising the issue of illumination in the streets of Laitumkhrah area.
It is submitted by respondent authorities that 226 of the 323 streetlights have been restored in ward Nos. 1 to 4 of the Laitumkhrah area.
The Power Department submitted that the supplies for the remaining streetlights have been sought and it is expected that such supplies would be effected within the next two months. The Power Department clarifies that the streetlights are not being installed at new positions, but the lack of maintenance over a period of time had resulted in most of the streetlights not functioning.
In view of the substantial work already completed and notwithstanding the petitioner’s entreaties that the turning or corner points should be illuminated on an urgent basis, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh granted the respondents four months from date to complete the illumination.
The Court directed the respondents should also keep in mind the reasonable request of the petitioner that the corner areas or the turning points should be addressed first before the other areas are serviced.
Since the matter complained of has been substantially taken care of and the fact that the respondents have indicated a timeline within which the rest of the work is expected to be completed, no useful purpose would be served in keeping the matter pending, the Bench observed.
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“In the unlikely event that the work is not completed within the next five months, the petitioner or any other like-minded individual may bring the matter to the notice of the Court”
-the order reads.