The Hindu : Front Page : Three-day ultimatum to Delhi banquet halls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Three-day ultimatum to Delhi banquet halls

Staff Reporter

MCD, acting under High Court orders, to seal the places if not closed down by owners within deadline

NEW DELHI: All plans of the Capital's citizens to host grand marriage parties and receptions at banquet halls across the city may go haywire with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Monday serving a three-day ultimatum to the owners of the banquet halls to shut down their facilities in accordance with Delhi High Court orders.

The High Court had directed the civic body this past Friday to stop with immediate effect holding of marriages and other social functions in banquet halls across the city that had become "a perennial source of nuisance to residents, besides causing traffic congestion".

On Monday, Municipal Commissioner A. K. Nigam convened a meeting of senior MCD officials where he directed the Deputy Commissioners of all 12 civic zones to serve notices to the banquet hall owners to close down their facilities within three days after which the civic body would go about sealing these places.

The decision could cause serious problems to those who have already booked these banquet halls for the coming days. "There are around 150 banquet halls across the Capital and all of them are illegal as there is no provision of a banquet hall in the Master Plan for Delhi. So all of them have to go. However, in the Master Plan-2021 a provision for banquet halls in the Capital has been included," said a senior MCD official.

On the issue of commercialisation of residential areas, the MCD has asked all zonal offices to prepare a comprehensive list of all such properties that have come up on 229 of the city roads with a width of more than 80 feet.

The Municipal Commissioner has asked all Deputy Commissioners to prepare the list afresh so that there is no scope for any anomaly.

The list will then be put up on the civic body's website so that people guilty of violations can remove their shops before the expiry of the Supreme Court deadline of 40 days.

Last Thursday the Supreme Court had ordered closure of all illegal commercial complexes, big showrooms and shops constructed in residential areas of the Capital in violation of the Master Plan for Delhi.

The civic body has been directed to issue notices to the owners of such establishments individually as well as through advertisements in newspapers and seal the premises within 30 days if the misuse continues.

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