Members of the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Wednesday asked a Supreme Court-appointed panel to suspend the drive to seal commercial establishments in Delhi immediately, PTI reported. The panel, which is monitoring the sealing drive, did not provide any assurance.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari were among those who attended the meeting at the state secretariat. “We all wanted an end to the chaos caused by the sealing drive and sought its suspension,” Tiwari told reporters after the meeting. “But the monitoring committee members did not say anything about it.”
The parties asked the panel to suspend the sealing drive as the Supreme Court is going to hear from April 2 a case on amending the city’s Master Plan, Tiwari added.
The Aam Aadmi Party said that the committee’s members were surprised when it raised the matter of commercial establishments being closed in areas covered by the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act.
The parties agreed to hire top lawyers to explain to the Supreme Court the positions of the Centre, the Delhi government and the municipal corporations in this matter. “In 2006-’07, best lawyers were hired by Congress government to represent its case in the apex court and sealing was stopped,” Congress leader Aman Pawar said.
Major wholesale and retail markets in Delhi did not open for business on March 13 after the Confederation of All India Traders called a one-day strike in protest against the sealing drive.
The sealing drive began on December 22, 2017, when shops and restaurants in South Delhi’s Defence Colony Market were shut down because of unauthorised constructions. The civic body in the city has since taken action against shops in a number of areas such as Khan Market, Mehar Chand Market, and markets in Sundar Nagar, Hauz Khas, Rajendra Nagar, Chhatarpur and Vasant Kunj. The shops were sealed as they allegedly have not paid conversion charges, and for encroachment and illegal construction, among other things.
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