BJP: Civic bodies to start de-sealing of residential properties

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, on Friday, said that the party ruled municipal corporations will soon start de-sealing of thousands of residential properties sealed under directions of the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee.

Mr Gupta and his predecessor and Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, in a press conference along with three mayors Jai Prakash, Anamika, and Nirmal Jain, welcomed the Supreme Court’s directions to the monitoring committee last week.

“We have directed the three municipal corporations to immediately start the de-sealing process. It will benefit 6,000 residential properties sealed under the directions of the monitoring committee,” said Mr Gupta.

Encroachment is a matter of concern but the monitoring committee, set up in 2006 to identify unauthorised structures and check misuse of residential properties in Delhi, “cannot exceed its power” and take any action beyond its authorisation, the Supreme Court had said last week.

A bench headed by

Adesh Gupta

Justice Arun Mishra had said that at no point of time the apex court has empowered the monitoring committee to take action with regard to “residential premises not used for commercial purpose” and it is not authorised to take action concerning residential premises situated on private land.

Mr Tiwari, who had faced contempt action for breaking the seal of a property in Gokalpur in 2018, alleged that the monitoring committee worked in a “pick and choose” manner.

“Despite several complaints by me, it did not take any action on unauthorised construction of thousands of houses on the Yamuna floodplain in Okhla,” said Mr Tiwari.

Both Mr Gupta and Mr Tiwari said that the monitoring committee has become “irrelevant” as a special task force has been formed to deal with the issue of encroachment in Delhi.