The Delhi High Court today said it will not spare any of the municipal or police officials who had allegedly allowed unauthorised construction to come up in Sainik Farms area here as it intended to order a CBI inquiry against them.
"We are not going to leave the officials. We are going to order a CBI inquiry against them," a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar said and sought presence of the CBI counsel on the next date of hearing, noting it was "contemplating issuing directions" to the agency.
The observations came after a resident welfare association (RWA) of the south Delhi colony alleged that an official of the corporation was providing "escort service" for a price to heavy trucks entering the area.
The court directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to check if the official named by the RWA was one of its employees and if yes, take action against him in accordance with law and to file a status report regarding the same by the next date of hearing on September 7.
The corporation was also directed to file digital copies of the log books maintained by its officials at the entry and exit points of the colony and any other log book pertaining to the area.
SDMC was further ordered to file a satellite image of the area as well as a status report regarding the CCTV cameras it intended to install at 17 sites in the colony.
The direction came after the corporation told the court that it has already installed cameras at three locations and intends to do that in 17 other sites which would take eight weeks.
The bench in its order also expressed hope that by the next date of hearing, the central government would have taken a concrete decision regarding whether to "flatten the area" or regularise it.
This direction came after the Centre said it had received comments from all stakeholders in June this year regarding action to be taken regarding Sainik Farms, but the Union Cabinet was yet to take a decision as Parliament session has started and sought time of six to eight weeks.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by an NGO alleging illegal construction in Sainik Farms.
During the hearing, Delhi Police said it has filed a list of all of its officers who were deputed between 2001 to 2008 to Sainik Farms area to monitor the entry and exit points there. It said it had earlier submitted a list of its officers deputed there between 2008 to 2015-16.
SDMC said it has compiled the data of its officials deputed there, but has not filed it yet as it took time to gather the information from all three corporations. It said the list would be filed in two days.
Meanwhile, some RWAs of the area, which were alleged to have been collecting toll from vehicles entering the area, said they have filed their affidavits containing details of the amounts collected, if any, by them from 2007 onwards by levying entry fees.
The bench, however, said that some of the affidavits were not on record.
The court on the last date had directed RWAs to file affidavits containing the amounts collected by them from 2007 by levying entry fees on vehicles entering the colony, while also questioning their authority to levy the "toll".
It had also warned that it could direct a CBI probe on unauthorised construction in the area if the Centre and the AAP government fail to take any "concrete measures" to address the issue.
The court had also directed SDMC to install cameras at all entry and exit points of the colony within four weeks.
