Chandigarh, Sept. 20 -- Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh administration over the appalling insanitation at the Sector-26 grain and vegetable market, the Punjab and Haryana High court on Friday questioned why civic authorities acted only when faced with judicial orders.

"Why does everybody act only when there is a judicial order? Why not earlier? What action have you taken against inactive functionaries?" the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry asked while asking the administration to file an affidavit disclosing not only the remedial steps undertaken so far, but also the action initiated against officials who failed to discharge their duty. Detailed order of the proceedings is awaited.

The court was hearing a...