Central panel to look into Delhi demolitions

The Centre will set up a committee to go into issues relating to the court-ordered demolition drive in Delhi.

A team of the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and demanded an "Ulhasnagar-type" ordinance for regularisation of unauthorised constructions. The Prime Minister, however, decided to set up a committee to come up with practical solutions to the problem.

After an hour-long meeting Singh had with Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Reddy said, "The Prime Minister has desired that the current uncertainty in Delhi's ongoing drive should be brought to an end."

"After taking various factors into consideration, it was decided that the urban development ministry should appoint a high-powered committee of eminent people, experts and representatives of the Congress and the BJP to look into various violations that have gone on in Delhi for years and come out with a practical solution," he said.

The committee, which will be constituted in the next few days, will submit its report in three months, he added.

Maintaining that all building and land-law violations cannot be clubbed together indiscriminately, Reddy said the MCD should focus on the more serious violations.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said she had already written to the urban development ministry suggesting 17 amendments to the existing building bylaws which could be effected to let off minor offenders.

The chief minister has repeatedly maintained that unauthorised constructions is a problem of growth rather than any genuine wish on the part of the Delhi residents to break the law.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court today declined to grant an interim stay on the demolition of illegal structures in the Capital's lal dora area, the hub of several prominent lifestyle products showrooms.

A Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma, however, asked the MCD to furnish the relevant documents and notifications purported to have granted exemption with regards to the construction of commercial properties in the area.

The Bench passed the order after senior counsel KTS Tulsi, appearing for fashion designer Rohit Bal and others claimed that such exemptions have been granted by the MCD and the revenue officials.

Tulsi said the demolitions were illegal as they were being carried out without any prior notice to the occupiers, who were on the verge of losing crores of rupees.