The Monitoring Committee carrying out the Supreme Court’s direction to seal unauthorised commercial construction in residential areas in the national Capital has complained about non-cooperation by the civic agencies leading to stalling of the exercise.
In a report mentioned before a Vacation Bench of Justices UU lalit and Deepak Gupta, amicus curiae and senior lawyer Ranjit Kumar, assisting the Court in the sealing matters, said that the civic bodies accompanying the Monitoring Committee refused to act on the Committee’s direction to crack down on unauthorised properties in south Delhi citing that amendments to the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 were yet to be finalized.
The Vacation Bench directed listing of the matter on Thursday directing a copy of the report to be furnished to the counsel appearing for Delhi Government, Union of India and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh accepted notice on behalf of the Delhi Development Authority.
The Monitoring Committee in its report referred to an order of May 15 passed by the apex court where the Committee was given the go ahead to carry out its duties and activities irrespective of amendments to be made to the Delhi Master Plan 2021. But authorities have adopted the pending amendment process as a ruse not to carry out the Committee’s directions.
Kumar who represented the Committee gave a recent instance of June 8 when the Committee went to inspect areas in South Delhi and asked SDMC authorities to take action against certain unauthorized structures. But the authorities refused to carry out the orders.
This led to filing of the report, Kumar added.
The court had on May 24 rejected the Centre’s plea seeking modification of its order in which the DDA was asked to invite suggestions from the public on amending the Master Plan of Delhi-2021.
The top court had on May 15 accepted DDA’s action plan in which it listed out steps including launching of an interactive website and a smart phone application to enable public to register their grievances regarding illegal constructions.
The Court gave the DDA 15 days time to make the same operational.
Previously, on March 6, the Court stayed any “further progress” in amending the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 aimed to protect unauthorised construction from the ongoing sealing drive.