HC orders action against trade in residential areas

Jaipur: Hearing a PIL on the running of commercial activities in Gems Vihar Colony in Jaipur, a division bench of Rajasthan High Court on Friday asked Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) and the two municipal corporations to act jointly and identify within six weeks residential areas where commercial activities are being conducted.
JDA and the municipal corporations — Jaipur Municipal Corporation (Greater) and Jaipur Municipal Corporation (Heritage) — were also asked to take legal action against those running commercial activities in residential areas in the following six weeks.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Shubha Mehta issued these directions while disposing off a PIL filed by Deepak Kumar Sharma and others. The petitioner’s counsel, Manish Kumar Sharma, said that despite Gems Vihar Colony being a residential area behind Sanganer stadium, commercial and industrial activities are being conducted in many buildings there. Such activities cannot be conducted in residential areas as per the rules of JDA and the municipal corporation, he said in the PIL.
“These activities cause traffic jams throughout the day. Many suspicious people also visit the locality, making the residents’ life difficult. Oral and written complaints have been lodged with the authorities concerned several times, but the problem has not been resolved. It has been requested that there should be an immediate ban on commercial and industrial activities taking place in the residential area,” he added. The Bench heard the petition and passed the order for JDA and the two municipal bodies.