SC will not budge, Delhi traders furious

The court asks the monitoring panel to decide on the date on which sealing will be resumed, reports Satya Prakash.

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the resumption of the sealing drive against commercial establishments in residential areas of Delhi, saying that no one should be allowed to hold the city to ransom.

The court asked the Monitoring Committee to decide on the date on which sealing will be resumed after consulting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). A decision is likely on Tuesday.

A few hours after the court gave its order, the central government's Group of Ministers (GoM), which is looking into the issue, met and decided to apprise the cabinet of the latest developments. A senior minister said the possibility of holding an all-party meeting on the issue was also discussed at the meeting.

Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, a member of the GoM, told reporters, "The Supreme Court orders are paramount and binding."

Following violent protests by the traders against the sealing drive, the central government, Delhi Government and the MCD had earlier filed separate applications in the court. They had sought modification of the court's September 29 order so that traders covered by the government notifications of September 7 and 15 got relief.

The two notifications had redefined 2,183 stretches of roads as commercial areas, but the court has still to decide whether they are valid in law or not.

On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) YK Sabharwal dismissed the applications and said: "We find no grounds whatsoever to modify our order dated September 29."

Over 40,000 traders covered by the notifications, who had given undertakings before the Monitoring Committee that they would shut their shops from October 31, now face sealing action.

The court asked the Monitoring Committee to file weekly reports in sealed covers before it without giving copies to the Solicitor-General, Amicus Curiae or the MCD counsel. This has been done in view of the leakage of an earlier report of the committee to the media.

While giving the directions, the court pulled up the government for its lenient approach towards the traders. The government is not powerless to control the situation and no one should be permitted to put a dagger on the neck of the authorities, it said.

"None can be permitted to hold the city and the law-abiding citizens to ransom and then ask for relief," the court said, rejecting Solicitor General GE Vahanvati's argument that the sealing drive could not be resumed as law-and-order problems were feared. "The problems arose probably because we committed a mistake by granting relief to five lakh traders on September 29," the court said.

Vahanvati said the government was not against sealing, but that it should be carried out first against 5,500 premises, which were not covered under either of the two notifications or any court order. He, however, said sealing should be deferred in the case of traders who had filed the affidavits.

The CJI reminded the government that the authorities under the Centre as well as states were obliged to work in aid of the SC in accordance with Article 144. It asked the government to provide security cover to those involved in the sealing operations.

Email satya.prakash@hindustantimes.com

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