Govt suspends sealing till Sep 25, to file affidavit in SC

Rattled by the violence resulting in four deaths on the streets of the national capital, the government today decided to suspend till September 25 sealing of unauthorised commercial units in residential areas and to approach the Supr-eme Court tomorrow with an amended Delhi Master Plan to legalise such structures.

The Centre and Delhi government swung into emergency action to address the highly emotive issue of sealings, which resulted in death of four persons in police firing and violence yesterday.

A Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the issue and the group met within hours to assess the situation in the capital.

After the GoM's meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced that the drive, ordered by Supreme Court which has taken a tough stand on illegal commercial activities, will be put on hold till Monday next.

The court will be approached with the amended Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2001, which was notified earlier this month, according to Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, also a member of the GoM.

However, an element of confusion prevailed with the Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, another member of the GoM, wondering how the sealing of buildings ordered by the apex court could be suspended.

The government, which has already indicated that it might convene a special session of Parliament and even amend the Constitution to deal with the crisis, said a final decision on this would be taken only after the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing in the issue on September 25.