Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) Concerned over reports of begging rackets, the Delhi High Court Tuesday pulled up the government for doing little to curb begging in the capital and asked it to report the concrete steps taken so far.
“You (government) do only paper work… and did not do anything practically,” a division bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ajit Bharioke said and asked the government to submit a report within 15 days on steps taken so far.

The court also asked the government to have more mobile courts to deal with cases of begging and posted the matter for Aug 10.

The lieutenant governor of Delhi has approved the setting up of the courts with a special metropolitan magistrate, a stenographer and a probationary officer, the state government informed the court.

The social welfare department has invited tenders for hiring 13 vehicles for anti-begging operations in Delhi, it said.

The capital still depends on a 50-year-old law - the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 - to deal with the menace of begging.

Delhi has approximately 100,000 street children, nearly half of whom beg for a living.

Taking suo motu cognisance of reports of begging rackets on the roads, the court had earlier directed the government to take action against the gangs involved in the such crimes.

The court had appointed senior advocate V.P. Chaudhary as amicus curiae and asked him to give suggestions to control the problem. Chaudhary has suggested the government appoint mobile magistrates for on-the-spot disposal of cases related to beggary.