The Supreme Court Tuesday took Delhi BJP chief and MP Manoj Tiwari to task for allegedly casting aspersions towards its committee which supervising the sealing of illegal structures in the national capital.
Being an MP does not give him the liberty to take the law in his hands, the top court told Tiwari, taking strong exception to his alleged violation of its directions on the issue.
Tiwari was present in the court in pursuance to the contempt notice issued to him for allegedly breaking the seal of a premises which was being run in violation of the Delhi Master Plan.
Expressing anguish at his statement, a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur asked the BJP leader to explain his claims made to a news channel related to the Delhi sealing matter.
"Mr Tiwari, in your CD, you say there are one thousand places which deserve to be sealed. Give us a list of these places. We will make you the sealing officer," said the bench also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta.
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It also directed him to file an affidavit within a week explaining why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.
Tiwari, who is an MP from northeast Delhi constituency, had said that the apex court-appointed monitoring committee was not sealing thousands of illegal structures.
An FIR was lodged against him by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation for allegedly breaking the seal of the premises in Gokalpuri area in north-east Delhi.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the BJP leader, said no seal was broken by Tiwari, who, being an MP, had never disrupted the sealing process.
Singh also alleged that the "monitoring committee was seeking publicity using your Lordships' forum and the property in question had nothing to do with sealing order."
The lawyer said he needed time to file a detailed reply in the matter.
"We are asking you, have you seen the CD? In the CD, he says there are thousand places which deserve to be sealed. He a Member of Parliament. That does not give him liberty to take law in his hands," the court told Tiwari's counsel.
It then directed Tiwari to appear on October 3 again when it will hear the matter.
While taking serious note of a report filed by the monitoring committee in this regard, the top court had earlier observed that it was "unfortunate" that an elected representative should try to defy the orders of the top court.
The court had taken cognisance of the panel report and said it reflected a "rather disturbing state of affairs".
In its report, the monitoring committee has said that "despite repeated directions of this court, the members of political parties and other such persons are intentionally and deliberately violating and showing utter disgrace to the directions passed by the court for political gains".
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the Delhi sealing matter, had placed the committee's report before the bench and said an FIR has been lodged against Tiwari for allegedly breaking the seal of the premises which was being used as a dairy.
He had that the premises had been "re-sealed" and a video of the incident was also annexed with report of the committee, which had suggested stringent action in the matter.
In the report, the committee has urged the court to "pass stringent directions including initiation of contempt proceedings against Manoj Tiwari, MP, for seal tampering so that sealing operations may continue uninterrupted as per directions of this court."
The monitoring committee, comprising K J Rao, former advisor to the Election Commissioner, Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, and Major General (Retd) Som Jhingan, was set up on March 24, 2006, by the court.
The top court is also seized of the issue related to validity of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations which protect unauthorised construction from being sealed.
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