Gurgaon: High court stays demolition drive at Ullawas until Friday

The owners of the structures, which are shops raised on agricultural land along the road without an approval from the competent authority, had moved a petition in high court on Monday

The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the demolition of 150 structures along Sector 61/62 Road at Ullawas until Friday.

The structures include grocery shops, furniture shops, confectionaries, tea stalls, clothing stores, etc. The town and country planning (TCP) had inspected the shops in September and ordered the DTP enforcement team to initiate lawful action. (Parveen Kumar/HT File)

The owners of the structures, which are shops raised on agricultural land along the road without an approval from the competent authority, had moved a petition in high court on Monday against district town planning department’s (DTP) enforcement. The high court heard the matter and granted a stay on demolition and fixed the next hearing for Friday.

Dharam Singh, former sarpanch of Ullawas, said, “I had moved high court a year ago and obtained a stay on demolition of my structure by the DTP’s enforcement team. I believe the high court on Monday stayed the demolition of other structures on the basis of my case only.”

Last Friday, subdivisional magistrate (SDM) north Gurgaon, Bharat Bhushan Gogia had stopped enforcement action and granted shop owners and locals three days time, until Tuesday, to remove their belongings from their shops.

However, his move came under question as it disappointed and shocked the huge team of 250 police personnel, battalions and officials of DTP enforcement who returned empty handed and wasting two hours at Ullawas.

A DTP official said, “Friday’s enforcement action was stopped to grant them time to move the court to obtain the stay. All structures, which are basically shops, are unauthorised and the locals had lost the case in a tribunal of town and country planning, Haryana, last September. We will present facts before the bench on Friday.”

The structures include grocery shops, furniture shops, confectionaries, tea stalls, clothing stores, etc. The town and country planning (TCP) had inspected the shops in September and ordered the DTP enforcement team to initiate lawful action.

Rajender T Sharma, a DTP enforcement official, said, “We have come to know about the stay from the high court and the date of the next hearing — Friday. We will present facts before the bench in next hearing. Earlier, there was stay on one structure.”

“The land in question on both sides of the Sector 61/62 road falls under Controlled Areas Act and it is the responsibility of the DTP enforcement, which is the custodian authority to stop illegal construction in such an area, to remove unauthorised structures. We are hopeful that the high court will consider the merit of the demolition order of the tribunal in the next hearing,” Sharma said.