Revenue Minister Atishi and Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday lashed out at Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti for not ordering the de-sealing of shops at several local shopping centres (LSCs) in the city even after the Supreme Court’s judicial committee issued orders for the same.
The issue dates back to 2017, when the MCD sealed shops across several LSCs, including those in Defence Colony, Green Park, and Hauz Khas, on the directions of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee over the usage of residential properties for commercial purposes without paying conversion charges.
In October 2022, the apex court constituted a judicial committee to deal with the challenges to the orders passed by the monitoring committee.
In December last year, the judicial committee passed an order on de-sealing and allowed basements to be used for storage and commercial activities, with certain caveats.
The order of the judicial committee led to friction between officials and elected representatives of the MCD.
While the AAP-led House has passed two resolutions to de-seal the shops and provide relief to the traders, the MCD’s executive wing has gone to the Supreme Court against the judicial committee’s order, arguing that the de-sealing exercise will result in a revenue loss for the civic body.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Bharadwaj said he and Mayor Shelly Oberoi had held meetings with the Commissioner seeking a resolution to the issue. However, Mr. Bharti had yet to issue instructions to de-seal the shops.
Ms. Atishi alleged that the Centre-appointed Commissioner had been ignoring the directions of the AAP-led MCD House at the behest of the BJP, which wants to control the civic body despite having lost the municipal election.
‘Interested in money’
However, Leader of the Opposition in the MCD Raja Iqbal Singh charged AAP with prioritising politics over resolution. He said the AAP-led MCD was more interested in collecting money from owners of de-sealed shops than in working with the municipal officials to resolve the issue.
When reached for comment, the MCD administrative wing did not respond.
