The Hindu : New Delhi News : Powerless before court orders, says MCD chief

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Thursday, Jan 03, 2008
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New Delhi

Powerless before court orders, says MCD chief

Staff Reporter

“Action to be taken against constructions not covered under MPD-2021”
“Intervention by the Centre required to save public from demolition”

NEW DELHI: Responding to the public outcry in the Capital over the demolition drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Commissioner Ashok Kumar Nigam categorically stated on Wednesday that the civic body is compelled to follow court directives and that any modification of the ruling has to be made by the court itself.

At a meeting of the MCD Standing Committee, Mr. Nigam said: “Demolishing residential complexes has grave consequences as it means displacement of the entire family. Even so, the civic body is powerless against the ruling of the court. If the public is to be exempted from the demolition drive, intervention by the Central Government will be required.”

Explaining the orders of the court, Mr. Nigam said action was to be taken against all constructions not covered under the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 and various ordinances. This also included, though not exclusively, illegally constructed fourth and fifth floors.

Echoing similar sentiments, MCD Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta said the paperwork required to bring illegal constructions under legal purview was the responsibility of the Central Government. “Even though the ultimate remedial measure for this situation was to bring in a one-time amnesty scheme for unauthorised constructions. We had filed an affidavit in court against the directive of the Monitoring Committee that is up for hearing on January 4. We will chalk out plan later.”

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