‘Eateries crowding Hauz Khas village’
The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up Delhi Police and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for allowing eating joints to come up “neck and neck” at Hauz Khas village in violation of building laws and the city’s master plan.
A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C Hari Shankar observed that the restaurants, located “one on top of another”, were running out of residential properties that had been converted for commercial use.
The court questioned whether such conversion was permissible. The court said it cannot blame citizens for not following the law when statutory bodies such as the municipal corporation and the police were flouting laws by issuing licences without ensuring compliance of building bye-laws and master plan requirements.
“You have permitted Kingsway Camp and Lado Sarai to become a nuisance. How are you permitting violation of master plan here?” the bench told SDMC.
It directed Delhi Police, fire services department and the SDMC to file affidavits on what was the permissible use of the properties where the eateries were located.
It also sought to know “how licences could be issued for properties for usage which is in violation of the master plan regarding permissible usage” and listed the case for further hearing on August 2.
The court was hearing two public interest litigations alleging “unlawful existence” of restaurants, pubs, fashion studios, bars serving liquor without licence, art galleries and other buildings in the village.
The petitioners, social activist Pankaj Sharma and advocate Anuja Kapur, alleged that there are over 120 restaurants and pubs running in the area without any building plan approval or no objection certificate (NOC) from the authorities, including the fire department.