Sealing returns, unlocks the politics around it

NEW DELHI:At the fag end of 2017, enforcement units of the building department of SDMC descended on the upscale Defence Colony market. Armed with wax, corporation seal and heaps of white bandages, as a Supreme Court mandate, the men went about sealing illegal establishments.
The drive had returned to the capital after almost a decade when a three-member monitoring committee was re-activated by the Supreme Court.Over 7,000 units came under the scanner from thereon. Large portions of Amar Colony, Meharchand Market, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Chhatarpur and Sunder Nagar saw a number of shops being locked. What followed was a feeling of fear, relentless protests and lobbying with the political class: it was déjà vu for the trader community.
In 2006, the city had faced its first largescale sealing-demolition activity when more than 5,000 properties were shut or brought down. The monitoring committee was, however, soon put in cold storage when the Centre promulgated the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006, to provide protection to lakhs of properties considered to be flouting norms.
While this time around, Delhi Development Authority sought to give some relief to local shopping centres through amendments to the Delhi Master Plan 2021 in February, the matter remained stuck in court. The Supreme Court allowed the government to proceed with the amendments only in May.
Meanwhile, a special task force, headed by the DDA vice-chairman, was constituted by the court to carry out encroachment removal drives and to curb unauthorised constructions. The efficacy of the task force, however, was called into question, with even the sealing panel recommending its discontinuation. No large-scale de-sealing has taken place either as the matter remains sub judice.
Traders see no clear solution in sight. Praveen Khandelwal, president of the Confederation of All India Traders, said an ordinance or Bill in Parliament’s winter session was the only answer. “The situation is as bad now as it was in 2006. Sealing has disrupted trade to a great extent,” he claimed.
Local agencies, backed by the Centre, claim that the shops can be regularised and de-sealed as per the new amendments, but members of the committee say the matter is sub judice. Clearly, no respite is in sight in the near future.