SC pulls up Delhi archaeology dept for delaying declaration of Def Col Gumti protected

Three months after the court ordered the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of Defence Colony to evacuate the structure they had been illegally occupying for six decades

New Delhi

The Gumti of Shaikh Ali. (HT Archive)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi government’s archaeology department for delaying the declaration of a 700-year-old Lodhi-era structure as a protected monument, the Gumti of Shaikh Ali, even three months after the court ordered the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of Defence Colony to evacuate the structure it had been illegally occupying for six decades.

A bench headed by justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said, “Unnecessarily, you are delaying the process of declaring the structure as a protected monument.”

On January 31, the top court directed the RWA to vacate the premises and ordered the land and development office (L&DO) to take charge of the land. It directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to clear encroachments, and asked the archaeology department to begin its restoration and declared it a protected monument.

Advocate Subhranshu Padhi appearing for the Delhi department said that the department is still in the process of getting official “ingress” to the premises.

Taking objection to the statement, the bench, also comprising justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah said, “Do you want that a card should be published inviting you to the site?”

Posting the matter for May 14, the bench said, “The archaeology department has stated that before the next date of hearing, in all likelihood, the notification declaring it as a protected monument, will be notified.”

In March, the top court imposed a cost of ₹40 lakh on the RWA for illegally occupying the premises and using it as its office for over 60 years. The association was directed to vacate the structure in January after the court commissioned a report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe how the structure was illegally encroached by the RWA in the 1960s.