I can become sealing officer, Manoj Tiwari tells SC after contempt notice

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari told the Supreme Court that he had broken the lock of a house sealed by municipal officers to pacify an agitated mob but stood his ground on allegations that he felt officials were arbitrarily sealing illegal structures.

The lawmaker from east Delhi faces a contempt petition after the SC-mandated monitoring committee told the court that Tiwari broke the locks of a dairy in his constituency on the grounds that it had been wrongly sealed by the committee.

The court had also taken exception to Manoj Tiwari’s statement that the court-appointed sealing committee had failed to act against at least 1,000 unauthorised properties in the national capital.

In its oral observations, the court had asked him to come up with a list of these structures and said it could give him powers to seal unauthorised buildings.

In his affidavit filed today, the BJP MP said he could become the “sealing officer’ to make the national capital a liveable and lawful place in four years. But for this to happen, he said the courts should dismiss or dissolve the monitoring committee supervising sealing drive.

He alleged “corrupt officials” of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) were arbitrarily carrying out the court’s orders to seal properties violating building laws.

Tiwari said he didn’t mean to disrespect the court but was “forced to do symbolic affirmative protest action against the illegal sealing action done by the EDMC Officials.”

Tiwari, MP from northeast Delhi, said will Delhi become a “liveable and lawful place in four years” if court dissolved the monitoring committee set up on its orders to oversee sealing in Delhi.

The Delhi Police filed a complaint against Tiwari and the Supreme Court served him a contempt notice for breaking the lock at Gukulpur village of north-east Delhi as scores of people watched him and TV crews beamed his images.

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First Published: Oct 01, 2018 14:21 IST