CAIT Urges Hardeep Puri To Dismantle Monitoring Committee Through Supreme Court

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) today sent a memorandum to the Union Urban Development Minister, Mr. Hardeep Puri, urging him to demand the Supreme Court through the Attorney General to dissolve the monitoring committee set up by the Supreme Court on sealing. Secretary General of CAIT Mr. Praveen Khandelwal said that now that the Supreme Court has already constituted a Special Task Force headed by the Vice Chairman of the DDA, there is no longer any justification to continue with the Monitoring Committee and hence this 13 year old committee should be abolished by the Supreme Court. He also urged Shri Puri that as the government is working speedily on the Master Plan 2041 and this master plan will be implemented in the year 2021, so to improve the future of Delhi, the government should immediately bring an amnesty scheme under which as on 31st December 2018, whatever has been built should be regularised on as is where is basis and in lieu of the same the Government may impose a reasonable regularisation charges. Meanwhile, the shops which have been sealed and covered in the amendments made by the government to the master plan, should be de-sealed immediately. The Monitoring Committee is not even opening the seal of such shops due to its obstinate attitude. Shri Khandelwal said that the Monitoring Committee has never followed the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, in the last 13 years and has taken arbitrary decisions thereby conducted various sealing which many not be legally valid and as a result has greatly affected Delhi's business and industry There is an atmosphere of terror. The job of the monitoring committee is only to see whether the orders of the Supreme Court are being followed by the various government departments or not and report to the Supreme Court.The Monitoring Committee cannot make any rules or laws on its will and pleasures. But the monitoring committee has made its own rules and has taken unilateral decisions on its own which are beyond the jurisdiction of the monitoring committee. The Monitoring Committee in a way gives direct orders to all government departments such as Municipal Corporation of Delhi, DDA, Delhi Police, New Delhi Municipality etc.and working as an independent government department without any legal provision. CAIT's Delhi State President Mr. Vipin Ahuja and State General Secretary Mr. Devraj Baweja said that CAIT is seeking advice from its lawyers on this serious issue and CAIT will also approach the Supreme Court for dissolving this committee. They also said that all the members of the Monitoring Committee have crossed the retirement age, so the retirement age must be applicable on any committee or panel constituted by the Supreme Court or the lower court to assist them. Maybe at the time when the monitoring committee was formed in the year 2006, the members of the monitoring committee should have been below the retirement age but now that they have already much crossed the retirement age, the monitoring committee should be eliminated. CAIT is considering filing a petition in the Supreme Court for permanent decision on the issue whether retirement age is applicable to such committees. Ultimately, there should be some criteria for the formation of such a committee as they are considered to be the extended arm of the Supreme Court. When on the one hand, the working age is fixed in the government and the judiciary then on the other hand why not the age limit is fixed for such committees or panels constituted by the government or judiciary . They cannot be relieved from the bond of age.