PM steps in to end uncertainty

Manmohan has appointed a high-powered panel to look into the issue.

Faced with the demand from the Congress in Delhi for an ordinance to overcome court-ordered demolitions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday directed the constitution of a high-powered committee to go into the issue.

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The committee has to come out with practical solutions to end the current "uncertainty".

After an hour-long meeting Singh had with Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Reddy told reporters "Prime Minister has desired that the current uncertainty in Delhi's ongoing drive should be brought to an end."

"After taking various factors into consideration, it was decided that Urban Development Ministry should appoint a high-powered committee of eminent people, experts and representatives of Congress and BJP to look into various violations that have gone on in Delhi for years and come out with a practical solution," he said.

The committee, which will be constituted in the next few days, will submit its report in three months time, he said.

Maintaining that all kinds of building and land law violations cannot be clubbed together indiscriminately, Reddy said MCD should focus on more grave violations.