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SC slams Centre for seeking dissolution of sealing monitoring committee
New Delhi
New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday came down on the Centre for seeking disbandment of the court-appointed monitoring committee that has been entrusted with the task of supervising the sealing drive in the Capital.
In an application filed before the top court, the Centre asked for winding up the monitoring committee and hand over its responsibilities to a Special Task Force (STF) constituted by the government.
A Supreme Court bench, led by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Justice Deepak Guptam, fumed at the Centre’s counsel. “Our monitoring committee will not, but your STF will go. Your petition is against dignity of this court, it is derogatory to file this (application) against the committee. And, the basic fundamental for the betterment of Delhi is being ignored. Nobody thinks of Delhi,” the judges remarked.
The STF was formed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in April last year after it was contemplated to have a supervisory body in place to implement SC orders on encroachment and unauthorized construction in the Capital. The monitoring committee was set up by the top court on March 24, 2006. Ever since the constitution of STF, the two panels have had their differences over the sealing procedure and places to be sealed.
They even expressed displeasure over “fight” between the court-appointed panel and the STF. “Its not a good state of affairs. The two committees are obstructing each other and this cannot be permitted,” the bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, was told by the bench that the applications should not have been filed. The solicitor urged the bench to hear him once.
But Justice Mishra retorted: “You ask us to disband the monitoring committee, which has been working for the past many years. We are in the Capital of this country. We are telling you this with some responsibility that we take objection to this application. It is like hitting at our committee directly.”
“We are in anguish and disgusted,” he continued, when advocate ADN Rao, assisting the bench, opposed the application. It is an attempt to block the statutory and constitutional duties performed by the panel, the bench said.
The Centre has claimed in its application that the SC’s monitoring committee has “outlived its purpose” and the two committee format leads to duplication leading to confusion. The monitoring committee, in its report filed earlier in the apex court, had said, “All the actions depict that the STF has completely failed to deliver what was expected of it as there are heavy encroachments on pedestrian pathways in addition to large scale illegal construction going on unabated.”
“The two committees are fighting and obstructing each other,” the bench said, adding, “We cannot permit things to go on like this. We are most unhappy.” The matter wiill again be heard on October 21.
The committee, in its report, had requested the court to “review the continuation of the STF which is adversely affecting the sealing operations by the monitoring committee”.
