The SC bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur denounced the intentions of the Delhi Development authority to bring amendments to the Delhi master plan 2021 in order to protect the traders community from the sealing drive in the capital remarking that the authority has not learnt from past experiences and incidents such as Uphaar fire tragedy, the kamala mills fire accident in Mumbai and the Bawana fire and called it the Delhi Destruction authority. The bench alleged that the authority was too enthusiastic over mollifying the traders’ interests and not mindful of the broader interests of the city.
The Delhi Development authority has proposed changes to the master plan by bringing the uniform floor ratio of shops at par with the residential complexes to decrease the space so that traders’ buildings wouldn’t be sealed off in the drive. The Court held that Delhi is plagued with various problems such as pollution, lack of parking spaces and proper solid waste management and it is one of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. Apart from these, the court accused the DDA of reducing the spaces of industrial and trading buildings which has been the cause of many fires and accidents in the past.
The Court asked the DDA to file an affidavit asking the DDA to explain the changes it seeks to bring. The Master plan 2021 includes 2,183 stretches of roads where commercial and mixed-land use is permitted in the Capital. The sealing drive is being carried out by civic authorities where there have been violations of building extra floors and illegal construction in areas like the Defence colony market, the Hauz khas market etc. on the advice of SC appointed monitoring committee which has attracted protests from the traders even supported by the AAP.
The DDA vice -chairman Udai Pratap Singh answered that they will follow SC orders and file the affidavit as soon as possible. Due to the increased uncertainities, the investment in the commercial real estate market in Delhi-NCR area has decreased.
Courtesy/By: Shreelakshmi
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06 Feb 2018
