The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its order on the contempt proceedings initiated against Delhi BJP chief and MP Manoj Tiwari for allegedly breaking the civic agency seal of an illegal premises even as the monitoring committee accused him of trying to make the court a "political battleground".
Tiwari, on the other hand, accused the apex court-mandated monitoring committee on sealing of "terrorising" the people of Delhi.
A Member of Parliament from the north-east Delhi constituency, Tiwari also claimed before a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta that the committee has exceeded its jurisdiction and conducted sealing drive in unauthorised colonies here that were protected under the law.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the BJP leader who was present in the court, told the bench that "monitoring committee want to terrorise the people of Delhi. This is only for publicity".
Advocate A D N Rao, representing the committee, countered Singh's arguments and said the panel does not need any "publicity" and its members were "only performing their jobs entrusted to them by the Supreme Court".
"Who is he (Tiwari) to come there and break the seal? He is not the owner of the premises. The whole purpose is to misuse the court," Rao said adding that the owner of the premises has not come forward with any grievance and has instead paid a fine of Rs 39,000.
The bench asked Tiwari's counsel as to why he had broken the seal put on the premises by the officials of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
"Who permitted you to break up the seal when the authority has sealed it?," the bench asked.
Responding to the query, Singh said a mob of around 1,500 people had gathered at the spot and if Tiwari would not have done this in "token protest", any untoward incident could have happened there.
"Is there a rule of mob or rule of law? What is your duty as a representative of the people?," the bench asked.
Singh said a mob was there at the spot and in case of any violence, people might have died there and to prevent such a scenario, Tiwari did this.
"Your lordships are sitting in a cosy area where nobody comes and questions you. But I have to answer the people on the ground," he said.
Singh said that no notice was served to the owner of the premises that it would be sealed on the ground that he was illegally keeping cattle there.
"They (monitoring committee) are using this as a test case to terrorise the people of Delhi. I am sorry to say this but that is what is happening," Singh said.
To this, Justice Lokur observed, "Do not say this if you are saying sorry. No one here is a terrorist. We are requesting you not to say this word".
Singh argued that there was no violation of the apex court order in the matter, as projected by the committee, and the court should have instead asked the panel as to how they had sealed the premises.
"The mandate of the monitoring committee was only to stop use of residential premises for commercial purposes. What they (committee) have done is beyond the mandate," he said, adding that "everything the monitoring committee says cannot be treated to be a gospel truth".
"I am not in favour of unauthorised constructions but there is rule of law in the country. A law protecting unauthorised colonies is there and no court has said that this law is bad," Singh said and claimed that the committee was "misusing" the court only for "publicity".
Rao, however, said that allegation on the committee about "pick and choose" was bogus and "it looks like he (Tiwari) has made this court a political battleground.
"He (Tiwari) wants to be sent to jail so that he can use it. He want to use the court as a tool. So do not send him to jail but impose a fine that will pinch his pocket."
Tiwari's counsel claimed that rampant unauthorised constructions were going on in his constituency but no action has been taken.
He said that in Jaffrabad area, people had broken the seal of premises and beaten up the EDMC officials in March this year but no action was taken.
The bench, while reserving the order, asked Tiwari to file an affidavit regarding the Jaffrabad incident.
The bench also made it clear that Tiwari would have to remain present in the court on the day the order would be pronounced.
The apex court had on September 19 issued contempt notice against Tiwari after taking note of a report filed by the committee which had alleged that the BJP leader had broken the seal of the premises
An FIR against Tiwari was lodged by the EDMC for allegedly breaking the seal of the premises in Gokalpuri area in north-east Delhi.
The top court had earlier ordered restoration of its 2006 monitoring committee to identify and seal the unauthorised structures in Delhi.
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 top court.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
