The Hindu : New Delhi News : No big relief provided by Court, feel Centre and traders

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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New Delhi

No big relief provided by Court, feel Centre and traders

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: Although the Capital's traders have been given a breather from sealing and demolitions till October 31, the general view within the Union Urban Development Ministry, among traders and even the political leaders here is that the Supreme Court orders on Friday have not provided any major relief but only further complicated the situation for the civic authorities.

Highly placed sources within the Ministry revealed on Saturday that after a thorough review of the judgment it was felt that the Supreme Court orders would increase the problems for the Government rather than settling the issue. After prolonged legal interactions and meetings at the official level by the Union Urban Development Minister, Jaipal Reddy, and his deputy, Ajay Maken, the reality has dawned upon the authorities that relief was only for a small section of the traders and that the majority would either have to shut shop or continue to function in an uncertain atmosphere.

It is learnt that the authorities are likely to take a stand on the issue during the next few days and come out with something concrete before the next meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) scheduled for October 5.

What is said to have complicated matters further is the direction by the Court that the Government should not come out with any new notification without the permission of the Court. "Everybody is talking about speeding up the Master Plan for Delhi-2021. But the fact is that it has also to be notified and for that we have to approach the apex court. This is not a viable situation and we have to look for other alternatives to sort out the whole issue as the Government is faced with a very peculiar situation,'' said a senior official.

The Ministry is also uncomfortable with the Court fiat asking all those covered under the 2,200-odd roads September 7 notification to file affidavits with the Monitoring Committee before November 10. It is felt that if these people -- nearly five lakh of them -- file affidavits, the Govt. would not be in a position to provide them any relief in future as they would be directly be accountable to the Court. It is felt that the onus once again is on the Union Govt. to bail out the traders and also the Congress party that faces MCD elections in the Capital early next year.

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