New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the representatives of the civic bodies to hold a meeting to work out a solution to the financial crunch being faced by the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs).

The directions of the high court came while it was hearing a petition filed by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC), alleging that Rs 90.60 crore payable as grant-in-aid under the sanitation/urban development head for the first quarter ending June 30 has not been released yet.

A division bench of the high court presided over by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said, "This meeting should take place at the earliest." The matter has been slated for further hearing on September 8. 

The bench also directed that a committee will look into Delhi government's claim that it did not recieve its share of GST collection which amounts to Rs 10,000 crore.

In its application filed through advocate Mini Pushkarma, the NrDMC sought directions to the Delhi government to release the due amount under the head sanitation/UD for the first quarter amounting to Rs 90.60 crore and Rs 181.20 crore due and payable under the head sanitation/UD under the second quarter which commenced from July 1, 2020.

It also said that expenditure towards salary till May 2020, sanitation services and providing PPE kits, gloves, masks, sanitisers etc. to the workers has been incurred by the corporation from its own internal resources in the absence of any amount being released by the Delhi government.