For the demolition of a public toilet block that was being used from around 1850s in old Delhi, a Delhi court has upheld the summons issued to five persons by a magisterial court under the prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
The accused persons had challenged the trial court order saying simply because water was being supplied by Delhi Jal Board, the toilet block did not become public property.
The case against the five accused – Sunil, sanjay, Pappan, Gaurav and Rahul, all residents of Nabi Karim – was registered in 2008 on directions of the magisterial court which received a complaint that the toilet block was demolished by them despite it being there for the last about 150 years.
Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar held the public toilet block to be a public property even though the land on which it was built did not belong to MCD. The ASJ held that even when the land did not belong to MCD, the toilet block being used by the public was under the control of MCD and water was being supplied by the Delhi Jal Board.
‘In view of the material available on record, this court finds that the toilet to which water used to be supplied by Delhi Jal Board for use by public of that area, can safely be said to have been maintained by local authority within the definition of public property’, said the ASJ.
The court said that it is not necessary that the place should be a public property but if it is a private property, it must be proved that not only public could have access to it but it is a place to which members of public in fact resort.