Iconic library won’t be demolished, says Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The Delhi high court has said that no portion of the building which houses the “iconic” Karol Bagh branch of the Delhi Public Library (DPL) would be removed or demolished without its permission.

The court gave the direction while allowing the DPL to initiate steps for appointing an agency to remove the rubble generated by demolition of a portion of the building earlier.

A vacation bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and A.K. Chawla said that the DPL has to first ascertain which floors of the central Delhi building, housing the 55-year-old library, need to be demolished and submit a report to the court. “The removal of any structure would be with the permission of the court,” the bench said and added, “It used to be an iconic library at one point of time.”

It said that its interim order restraining the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) from demolishing the building would continue. The order came during the hearing an application filed by the building’s owner, seeking directions to the library to appoint an independent agency to clear the rubble.

The owner, Dimple Enterprises, has claimed that the rubble is adding to the structural instability of the building. The application was filed in the PIL moved by some scholars who have challenged the NDMC’s two notices to the DPL to vacate the premises claiming the building was structurally unfit and therefore, needs to be demolished.

The court had earlier stopped the NDMC from taking any further step, saying the library “shall be kept closed and nobody shall be permitted to enter the premises till further order”. It had also asked the Centre to consider the reports given by the IIT, Delhi and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) after inspecting the premises and to take a decision with regard to the building’s structural stability.