NEW DELHI: Ruling out an Ordinance to put an end to the sealing and demolition exercise in the Capital, the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Friday urged the Union Urban Development Ministry to speed up the process of finalisation and notification of the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 that is in its final stages.

Highly placed sources said the issue of Ordinance, as demanded by the opposition BJP and the traders, came up for discussion during the meeting this afternoon.

However, Law and Justice Minister H.R.Bhardwaj is understood to have ruled out the possibility of issuing an Ordinance as such a step would further provoke the Supreme Court that has already directed the Union Government not to issue any further notification without its permission.

The meeting was also attended among others by Union Minister for Urban Development Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Union Social Welfare Minister Meira Kumar, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken, Delhi Chief Secretary R. Narainswamy and Police Commissioner K.K. Paul.

The GoM meeting felt that a solution should be worked out in such a manner that it does not confront the Supreme Court or its directions in any way. It was felt that the Urban Development Ministry should expedite the work on the new MPD and efforts should be made to ensure that the draft is notified in the shortest possible time.

It is understood that Mr. Maken briefed the GoM on the finer points in the new Master Plan for Delhi and at what stage of finalisation it had reached. There was a general view of optimism that the Court had not turned down the notifications issued by the Ministry and its relief to the people was a welcome move.

Emerging out of the meeting, Mr. Reddy said the Court had also elaborated on the new Master Plan for Delhi and the comments had been taken note of. The new MPD has been in the public domain for the last one year and was in the final stages of being notified.

"We need some time to study the judgment of the apex court. It is an interim order and not a final judgment. The Court has not stayed any of our notifications of September 7 and 15 giving relief to lakhs of traders,'' he added.

Mr. Reddy refused to elaborate on the measures the Government proposed to take to provide relief to traders who have not been given any concessions by the Court.

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