SC panel upholds sealing decision

A Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee has stuck to its guns on its decision to recommend sealing of some buildings in Sujan Singh Park, including the Ambassador Hotel. Hamari Jamatia reports.

A Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee has stuck to its guns on its decision to recommend sealing of some buildings in Sujan Singh Park, including the Ambassador Hotel.

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The monitoring committee will now forward the report to the Supreme Court which will take the final decision on whether or not the sealing should be carried out.
The committee, in its latest report, said the property owners have violated land use guidelines and are guilty of encroachment. Sealing should take place before December 1, the report said. Some of the properties which are likely to face the sealing drive are Ambassador Hotel, Golf Apartment, Ardee School, Learning Tree play school and servant quarters in the North Block. According to the EPCA (Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority), some of the properties were using the premises for commercial activity.

In July, the Ambassador Hotel had moved the court against sealing orders by the monitoring committee.

The report, which was distributed among stakeholders, further said that more than one third area of the estate has been encroached upon.

In its report, the panel has fixed the extent of encroachment in Sujan Singh Park as being more than 2 lakh square feet out of the total area of 6 lakh square feet. A sealing drive has already been carried out earlier this year against servant quarters on charges of opening commercial establishments, such as garages.

While Ambassador Hotel, Ardee School and Learning Tree play school have been charged with encroachment on public land, the EPCA has levelled charges of illegally increasing the FAR and occupying the properties before obtaining completion certificates on Golf Apartment. The block had initially obtained permission for 32 flats only. However, there are now more than 80 flats here.