The Delhi High Court on Monday expressed hope that the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi would soon take a decision on the Court-approved project for beautification of the historic Jama Masjid and its surroundings here.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Reva Khetrapal said this when counsel for the petitioners in the matter drew its attention to the undue delay in implementation of the project for one reason or the other.
Earlier counsel for the local body submitted that the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) had inspected the project report and approved it. Now the report would be placed before the Standing Committee for the final go ahead, the counsel submitted.
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The Court had last year directed the Commission to inspect an investigation report prepared by the amicus curiae in the matter about alleged changes carried out in the project.
The Court had in 206 approved the Rs.240-crore project prepared by the local body for development of the Jama Masjid and its surrounding areas as an international tourist site.
It had appointed the City Zone Deputy Commissioner as a nodal officer for implementation of the project and set a time frame of 18 months to implement it.
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The directions had come on a bunch of petitions seeking removal of encroachments around the Jama Masjid, its renovation and declaring it a protected monument.
According to the project, the MCD among other things will build a multi-level underground parking on a build-operate-transfer basis at Parade Ground in front of the Red Fort. It will construct another multi-level parking lot for cars only on Netaji Subhash Marg and develop Netaji Subhash Marg corridor from Lothia Bridge crossing to Darya Ganj crossing. Also, the MCD would develop the area near Meena Bazar adjacent to the mosque and develop the peripheral roads from Netaji Subhash Marg to Parade Ground.