Centre moves SC

The Centre today moved the Supreme Court seeking relief for about 25,000 traders who have given an undertaking to stop misuse of residential premises for commercial activities and are covered by two official notifications on the sealing drive.

The application filed by the Urban Development Ministry before the apex court registry also sought notifications of the apex court orders of September 29 and November 6.

In its application, the ministry had asked the apex court to spare about 25,000 traders who have given affidavits to stop the misuse of residential premises for commercial activities and are covered by the September 7 and 15 notifications which allow trading activities in over 2,000 roads from the drive.

The ministry said the situation in which the earlier applications were heard and disposed of by the court on November 6 were considerably different as those were heard in view of the law and order problem that had emerged after the three-day strike call given by the traders.

However, after the last order on November 6, the ground situation has changed considerably, the application said, adding the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has resumed sealing under the supervision of the court-appointed monitoring committee.

"The sealing activity is being conducted with full police and para-military protection. Several glaring offenders have already been sealed. It is also understood that some of the establishments which had given undertaking have already ceased misuse in compliance with the undertaking," the application said.