The Hindu : National : Traders' issue: Centre moves apex court

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Saturday, Sep 23, 2006
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Traders' issue: Centre moves apex court

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: Taking note of the agitation by traders and other communities, the Centre on Friday urged the Supreme Court to allow the Government to give effect to the notifications to stop the sealing of commercial establishments operating in residential areas in the Capital.

On Thursday, the Cabinet appointed a Group of Ministers to look into the problems pursuant to the sealing operations being carried on as per the directions of the apex court.

The Ministry of Urban Development on Friday filed an affidavit giving reasons for the issuance of the notifications on September 7 and 15 to allow commercial activities in residential areas. The case comes up for hearing on September 25.

It denied that the Government had deliberately timed the notifications to over-reach the orders of the Court. It said that the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act 2006 enacted by Parliament notified on May 19 had cast a responsibility on the Central Government to finalise policy guidelines, norms and feasible strategies in respect of certain categories of unauthorised development, including mixed use in violation of Master Plan provisions. The modification of the Master Plan 2001 as per the September 7 notification "which revises the mixed use policy is thus a step towards fulfilling that responsibility. All efforts have been made to take into account the views of a cross section of society and stakeholders while finalising this policy and amending the Master Plan."

Statutory process

The Centre said that the September 7 notification was a valid piece of delegated legislation enacted after fully following the statutory process as laid down by the law and in furtherance of the mandate imposed on the Government under Section 3 of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act 2006. The notification was the culmination of the process undertaken to modify/revise the provisions relating to mixed use in Master Plan 2001. Various streets/areas, where mixed use was earlier non-permissible had now become permissible. Pursuant to this notification, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi came out with a notification identifying over 2,000 mixed use and commercial use streets/areas.

It said, "the wishes of the community have been taken into account for determining the mixed use streets in certain categories of colonies, in respect of which the Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) have expressed such desire to be consulted. Various checks and balances have also been prescribed in the revised provisions in order to balance the interests of residents and traders."

It said "The Government has been guided by the need to maintain a judicious balance between the interests of the residents as well as traders operating in residential areas and at the same time ensuring sufficient safeguards against public nuisance, pollution and other hazards while permitting non-residential activities in residential areas."

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