Civic body to ban marriages in its parks

Around 350 parks owned by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi across the capital will be out of bounds marriages and other social functions by the end of this year.

Around 350 parks owned by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi across the capital will be out of bounds marriages and other social functions by the end of this year.

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This is part of the measures taken by the civic agency on the Delhi High Court’s directions to protect the city’s greens.

The corporation owns 675 parks in Delhi.

The civic agency’s lawyer Ajay Arora told a bench headed by Chief Justice A.P. Shah that the MCD had framed a policy to phase out use of parks for social functions.

The court asked Arora to ensure their assurance was implemented in the right earnest, as “each leaf and each tree is precious.”

“Do not convert the parks into community halls. Construct more community halls for marriage functions,” said the judge.
The MCD also plans to construct 147 additional community centres “to get over the problem faced by people of Delhi on account of shortage of sites for holding marriages.”

There are already 214 community halls under the civic agency.
The court is hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, Patanjali Shiksha Sansthan, seeking the court’s intervention to direct the MCD and DDA not to violate the Master Plan.

The petitioner alleged that despite repeated orders from the Supreme Court and the High Court to maintain the demarcated areas for parks, the MCD granted permission to the people to use parks for marriage and other social functions.

“Ornamental parks meant for recreation are being misused by the agencies concerned for earning money,” they contended.