AMENDED DELHI MASTER PLAN ON HOLD FOR NOW, GOVT TELLS SC
NEW DELHI: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) new guidelines to regularise commercial units in local markets have come under the scanner of Supreme Court, with a bench led by justice MB Lokur saying on Friday the guidelines virtually implemented the amended Master Plan of Delhi that has been put on hold by it.
The bench, also comprising justice Deepak Gupta, was about to stay the guidelines but refrained from doing so after additional solicitor general AS Nadkarni promised to advise the urban affairs ministry not to go ahead with the new regulations.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who is assisting the bench in the case of sealing of commercial establishments in prominent Delhi markets on alleged land-use violations, drew the judges’ attention to the dayold guidelines. Kumar said the SDMC should not be allowed to go ahead with them since the amended Master Plan had been stayed.
He urged the court to decide on the issue, to come up for hearing August 28, and stay the guidelines till then.
Justice Lokur sought an answer from the municipal corporation’s counsel. Advocate Wasim Qadri said he had no instructions on the issue and was unable to respond. “Then we will stay the guidelines,” the judge said.
But the judge was stopped from dictating the stay order by Nadkarni. “I shall speak with the secretary of urban development ministry and advise him not to act till the next hearing,” the ASG promised.
In a move aimed at starting the process of de-sealing 921 shops, restaurants and offices in localities such as Hauz Khas, Defence Colony, Greater Kailash and Green Park, among others, the SDMC had issued a slew of guidelines on Thursday. The new provisions allow the use of basements, mezzanine, and first, second and third floors for commercial activities -- one of the biggest reasons behind the sealing drive in the Capital launched in December subsequent to top court’s orders.
This March, the top court had stopped the Centre from notifying the amended Master Plan. The changes were made to provide relief to shopkeepers and traders from the sealing drive carried out under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.
The court took a strong note of the recent fire incident in a Mumbai high-rise that claimed four lives and remarked that people were dying in buildings, constructed illegally and without relevant certificates or clearances. It also referred to the fire in a factory in Bawana in Delhi and Kamala Mills in Mumbai, and said unregulated constructions were being rampantly carried out.
Vijay Ishrani, president of Green Park Market Association, said the traders are left in a lurch with authorities taking no responsibility for the current mess. “Instead of acting as a ‘monitoring’ committee, the SC appointed body is acting as an ‘advisory’ committee. The civic authorities, who were supposed to check the land use violations for years, failed to perform their duties diligently. Now, attempt is being made to balance the situation in one go by sealing the illegal construction of all shopkepeers, which is unjustified.”