HC nod to turning Gole Market into museum

The Delhi High Court has cleared the decks for the conversion of the heritage Gole Market building into a museum and declined shopkeepers' plea against the New Delhi Municipal Council's move to evict them for the purpose.

The Delhi High Court has cleared the decks for the conversion of the heritage Gole Market building into a museum and declined shopkeepers' plea against the New Delhi Municipal Council's move to evict them for the purpose.

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A vacation bench of justices Manmohan Singh and RV Easwar accepted NDMC's affidavit which stated that a decision has been taken to covert the building into a museum but not to develop it as a commercial property.

It also asked the shopkeepers to hand over the possession of shops by June 30.

The shopkeepers had moved the high court, also challenging the single judge's order refusing to grant any immediate relief, alleging that on February 4, the NDMC staff along with police force came to take forcible possession of their shops without giving any notice or intimation of any sort.

They also contended that the NDMC had not taken any decision as to whether to covert the building into a museum or not and till the time NDMC takes a final decision on the issue, they should not be evicted.

The court, in its order, made it clear that it was "open to the appellants to initiate any action which is permissible under

law in case it is found that

the respondent (NDMC) intends any time to develop Gole Market as commercial property".