During a sealing drive in Defence Colony. (Archive)
The Supreme Court Tuesday pulled up the Delhi government, the municipal corporations and the Delhi Development Authority for not filing an affidavit regarding amendments to the Delhi Master Plan 2021. Stating that “this dadagiri has to stop”, the court stayed “further progress” on the amendments, intended to save unauthorised construction in Delhi from the sealing drive.
“In spite of our order dated 09.02.2018, in which we had… required the DDA, MCDs and Delhi government to file an affidavit with respect to nine issues concerning the Master Plan, nobody has bothered to file an affidavit… That being the position, further progress in the amendment of Master Plan is stayed,” a bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta ordered.
“This is contempt, nothing short of contempt. This dadagiri (bullying) has to stop,” the bench said. “You are appearing before the Supreme Court of this country and you are saying as if you can do anything and you do not have to file a reply.”
To provide relief to traders from the sealing drive by civic bodies — on the orders of an SC-appointed monitoring committee — the proposed amendments to the Master Plan are aimed at bringing a uniform floor area ratio (FAR) for shop-cum-residential plots and complexes, on a par with residential plots.
Reacting to the order, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government will soon file an affidavit in Supreme Court. “There are difficulties with the Master Plan. The city is a growing entity… subject to demographic pressures. So, a Master Plan must be flexible and able to absorb upcoming changes… We developed a plan that was placed before DDA and was passed last week. Now our law officer, the additional solicitor general, will place this solution in the form of affidavit before the court. Then court will take the view,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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