The Delhi government on Tuesday put the blame for not shifting more than 100,000 polluting industries from the non-conforming residential areas in the capital squarely on the urban development ministry, which was appointed a nodal agency for the purpose, and said the contempt notice should have been directed to it instead of its chief secretary. Continuing the submissions on the contempt notice issued on November 14, Senior Counsel K K Venugopal contended before a three-judge bench headed by Justice B N Kirpal that from day one, the urban development ministry as the nodal agency was entrusted with the task of relocating these industries or ordering their closure.
The other judges on the bench were Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Brijesh Kumar.
The Delhi Master Plan, 1962, the counsel said, gave all powers to relocate polluting industries by developing industrial estates to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) which comes under the urban development ministry.
The Master Plan, he pointed out, does not make any provision for relocating industries, which had less than nine workmen and most of the polluting industries within the non-conforming areas employ less than nine workers. The counsel submitted that without having any such powers the Delhi government was carrying out the work of relocating these industries purely under the orders of the state.

Bureau Report