No divine power can wake up civic body: SC to MCD over library demolition

The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday for demolishing a building that housed a public library, without giving a chance to the affected party to seek relief, and said "there is no divine power which can wake you up". 

The first Delhi Public Library (DPL) was started by then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru near the Old Delhi railway station in 1951. 

Infuriated, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan questioned how could the civic body demolish the building that housed the DPL since 1954, without waiting for the parties to approach the apex court. 

 

"For years, people have tried to wake you up but to no avail. There is no divine power which can wake you up. But in this case, within a week, you acted lightning fast and demolished the building. We will not only order an investigation but will also direct for restitution of the building, if any wrongdoing is found," the bench warned the counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the civic body. 

The bench noted that the Delhi High Court passed an order on September 10, 2018 in the matter and without even giving a breathing time to the tenants and other occupants of the building to approach the top court, the MCD demolished the building at 8:30 am on September 18, 2018. 

It said on September 18, 2018, the apex court ordered that status quo be maintained regarding the building that housed the library and faced the threat of demolition due to its dilapidated condition. 

The bench said strangely, during the hearing, the counsel for the MCD maintained that the civic body had not caused the demolition. 

It said the building owner has brought to the court's notice a picture that shows an executive engineer of the MCD arriving with heavy machinery to demolish the structure. 

"Let show-cause notice be issued to the MCD and respondent number 2 (M/s Dimple Enterprise) to explain on whose orders the demolition exercise was carried out," the bench said. 

It said the court needs to know what were the hidden circumstances for which the MCD denied the party the right to approach the apex court. 

While directing the civic body to file an affidavit, the bench asked Dimple Enterprise, a private firm that is also associated with the dispute, to give particulars of its founders and explain the circumstances that led to the demolition of the building. 

The bench observed that prima facie, there appeared to be some connection with the firm's promoters and the MCD's demolition action, and said it will get to the truth of it. 

The bench said its interim order of September 18, 2018 will continue till further orders. On September 18, 2018, the top court ordered that no portion of the property at Karol Bagh here be demolished. 

It had issued a notice on a plea filed by the Delhi Library Board challenging the high court's September 10, 2018 order by which six months were given to the DPL to relocate its branch to another location accessible to the public. 

In its order, the high court had said since the plea before it primarily pertained to preservation of books at the DPL's Karol Bagh branch, it would not interfere in the dispute over the building where the library was housed since 1954. 

The high court's order had come on a petition against the North Delhi Municipal Corporation's notices to the library to vacate the premises, which according to the civic body was structurally unfit and dangerous. 

Funded by the Ministry of Culture, the DPL is an autonomous body with around 45 branches and mobile libraries across the national capital. 

The library was issued two notices by the corporation, asking it to vacate the building so that it could be demolished.