There will be no stoppage of sealing and demolition activity in the national Capital, ordered the Supreme Court on Wednesday after the Monitoring Committee complained to the court that the civic agencies were refusing to carry out orders to seal/demolish defaulting structures on the pretext that amendments to the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 was awaited.
In the presence of DDA Vice Chairman, and Deputy Commissioners of South, West, and Central Delhi Municipal Corporations, the Bench of Justices Madan B lokur and Deepak Gupta said, “We make it clear that there will be no stoppage of sealing or demolition work in the city.”
On coming to know that a mobile app was introduced by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on July 9 inviting citizens to report about any unauthorised construction, the SC asked the Centre to give it wide publicity and directed that as soon as an unauthorised construction is booked, the work at the site should be immediately stopped and the defaulter asked to respond to the show-cause notice within 48 working hours.
The Centre through Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted an office memorandum issued on May 23, 2018, that will blacklist the contractor/builder involved in the unauthorised construction. The court directed the Centre to add even the architect to this category within two weeks and held that in future if the building plan prepared by the blacklisted architect or contractor/builder comes for approval before the civic agencies, the same shall not get clearance.
Amicus curiae senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for the Monitoring Committee informed the court about threats given to engineers employed with the municipal authorities and the volatile situation created in certain areas that delayed sealing action.
The Bench ordered adequate police protection to be given to the team carrying out sealing/demolition drive and under no circumstance the sealing drive should be postponed citing “volatile” situation. Kumar reported about the threat issued by BJP Councillor Mukesh Suryan of Najafgarh to officers carrying out their statutory duties and the councillor’s alleged role in getting the Deputy Commissioner of the zone transferred for demolition.
The SC ordered Registry to issue notice to Suryan and directed his presence in the court on the next hearing. On the transfer of the Deputy Commissioner, the municipal agency dismissed it as routine transfer. But the Bench smelt a rat and ordered the agency to produce the entire file regarding his transfer in court on the next date.
The SC allowed the request of Kumar to have a senior officer of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) assist the sealing team to identify structures built in proximity to the Capital’s historic monuments and archaeological sites. So far, the municipal agencies claimed they have acted on 138 out of 431 complaints received on the mobile app. The court proposed the agency to prepare digital mapping of the city with the aid of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).