Sealing: SC reserves order on contempt proceedings against BJP MP Manoj Tiwari

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its order on the contempt proceedings initiated against Delhi BJP chief and MP Manoj Tiwari for allegedly breaking the civic agency seal of an illegal premises even as the monitoring committee accused him of trying to make the court a "political battleground".

Tiwari, on the other hand, accused the apex court-mandated monitoring committee on sealing of "terrorising" the people of Delhi. A Member of Parliament from the north-east Delhi constituency, Tiwari also claimed before a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta that the committee has exceeded its jurisdiction and conducted sealing drive in unauthorised colonies here that were protected under the law.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the BJP leader who was present in the court, told the bench that "monitoring committee want to terrorise the people of Delhi. This is only for publicity".

Advocate A D N Rao, representing the committee, countered Singh's arguments and said the panel does not need any "publicity" and its members were "only performing their jobs entrusted to them by the Supreme Court".

"Who is he (Tiwari) to come there and break the seal? He is not the owner of the premises. The whole purpose is to misuse the court," Rao said adding that the owner of the premises has not come forward with any grievance and has instead paid a fine of Rs 39,000.

The bench asked Tiwari's counsel as to why he had broken the seal put on the premises by the officials of EDMC. "Who permitted you to break up the seal when the authority has sealed it?," the bench asked.

Responding to query, Singh said a mob of around 1,500 people had gathered at the spot and if Tiwari would not have done this in "token protest", any untoward incident could have happened there.