The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred to the encroachment on public land, roads and pavements in Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi as an important issue and firmly told the commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that the issue would be taken to its logical conclusion. This is a very important issue and we will take it to the logical conclusion, a bench of Justice R P Sethi and justice Doraiswamy Raju said while hearing the case pertaining to the court directive to demolish all encroachments on public land specially those on roads and pavements.
Rakesh Mehta, who took over charge on April 15, was present in the court and said in his affidavit that extensive demolition drive was carried out in the locality pursuant to the court directive.
He said that a total of 973 encroachments have been removed since February 26 when the apex court gave the order for removal of the encroachments. However, the commissioner apologised for delay in removal of certain structures but added that it was no wilful disobedience of the court orders.
He said 22 encroachments in the form of three-storey structures still existed and a committee of engineers have been constituted for its safe demolition as these illegal structures were joined to the regular buildings through iron beams.
The bench gave them six week time to remove the illegal structures and asked the MCD to file a compliance report. It also requested senior advocate Nageshwar Rao to assist the court as amicus curiae as the petitioner was not taking interest in the matter.
Bureau Report