Sealing caused breakdown of law: Delhi Supreme Court
The court also sought to know what action has been taken on unauthorised constructions which were not protected under the law.
New Delhi: There is a “complete breakdown” of law and order in Delhi, Supreme Court said Monday, expressing anguish over the strikes and dharnas against the on-going sealing drive in the national capital.
The apex court came down heavily on the Centre and other agencies, saying such a situation has arisen due to their failure and termed it a “serious issue” concerning governance.
A bench of justice Madan B. Lokur and justice Deepak Gupta asked searching questions of the Centre over the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations which protects unauthorised construction from being sealed.”You cannot go on destroying Delhi. There has to be some reason,” the bench told additional solicitor general (ASG) A. N.S. Nadkrani, representing the Centre.
“Tell us that there will be no dharnas in Delhi. There is a complete breakdown of law and order in Delhi,” the bench said, while asking the central government to justify its stand supporting the laws, which protects unauthorised constructions.
He said there were lakhs of immigrants in Delhi due to which there was a gap between demand and supply and there were around 1,400 unauthorised colonies, housing around six lakh families.
However, the top court took exception to the fact that no official data and figures were available on record regarding the number of such people residing in such colonies and unauthorised structures.
“The government and the related agencies are not doing their jobs. This is an admission of failure by you that ‘I have failed to do my job, so please help us’,” the bench observed, adding, “this is a very serious issue. It is a matter of governance and people of Delhi are suffering because you are not doing your job”.
The court raised the issue of “repeated temporary statutes” and asked whether it can be done like this. “Everytime you tell Parliament that extend it for one more year. Can you go on like this? Please look into this, otherwise you are befooling Parliament.”
The court also sought to know what action has been taken on unauthorised constructions which were not protected under the law. “You can make a statement today that any unauthorised construction after January 1, 2006 will be sealed,” the bench said, adding hundreds of such colonies have come up after over the years. “You don’t implement your law and when we say do it, then there are strikes and all,” it said.
When Mr Nadkarni said that strikes against the sealing drive were “wrong”, the bench said, “we do not know what is right or wrong, but this is happening”. Since he referred to the Master Plan of Delhi-2021, the bench asked as to when the illegal colonies started to come up in Delhi.