The sword of sealing is hanging not only on 100 banks and 150 nursing homes in Noida, but also on thousands of other units in residential areas such as barber shops, grocery units, ATMs, railway and air ticket outlets.
“There are commercial pockets already set aside and also being identified in residential areas. Such shops can run either from these pockets or purely from commercial areas,” said CB Singh, deputy chief executive officer, Noida Authority.
In an affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court, the Noida Authority has said, these activities are commercial and not professional and, thus, cannot be allowed in residential sectors.
The authority, through its counsel Ravindra Kumar, told a division bench of justices Swatantra Kumar and Ranjana Prakash Desai that only clinics and offices of lawyers and architects (with certain building regulation riders) can be termed professional activities.
“The city master plan treats all other shops as commercial. They will all be sealed if they do not move out. Unlike banks, they cannot be offered alternative locations, because the authority does not have that much land,” the affidavit reads.
“On Wednesdays, the authority carries out sealing against commercial establishments in residential areas but action against these smaller units will create a crisis of sorts,” said an RWA president.
{{/usCountry}}“On Wednesdays, the authority carries out sealing against commercial establishments in residential areas but action against these smaller units will create a crisis of sorts,” said an RWA president.
{{/usCountry}}“We will seal them all. But banks and nursing homes will be spared till the court gives its final verdict,” said an official.