Chandigarh, Sept. 9 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Monday admonished the municipal administration of Nayagaon over open manholes. The court was hearing a public interest litigation by Sher Singh, highlighting the problem of open manholes in Nayagaon municipal council (MC), which as per the petitioner, the administration had failed to look into. At one point of time, the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry observed that the court's precious time was being wasted to look into municipal issues. The PIL was filed in May seeking HC's intervention highlighting hazards posed by open manholes. However, when the matter was taken up on May 28, government counsel had submitted that all the manholes, which the petitioner alleges to be damaged or lying open, have been repaired. As the hearing began, the lawyer for the petitioner had submitted that manholes are still lying uncovered or damaged. He also produced some photos, showing the state of affairs by the MC. On the other hand, MC's counsel had told the court that repair was done when the issue was highlighted in May but due to recent rains, it got damaged again. The bench took a grim view of MC's stand and stated that petitioner's affidavit was showing otherwise and some of the manholes, it appears, were not repaired and remained in the same state as noticed in May, when the matter had initially come to light. "This court is being forced to do municipal work, which should be performed by Nayagaon municipal council. The executive officer appears to be taking the high court for a ride," the bench remarked, while orally directing that executive officer would appear virtually during the September 10 hearing and also sought current status of all the manholes. The court warned that failure to comply with the order may result in initiating contempt proceedings....