The MCD will inform the court its readiness to resume the drive if its personnel engaged in the drive get adequate security.
NEW DELHI: As the sealing issue comes up at the hearing at the Supreme Court on Monday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will inform the court its readiness to resume the drive if its personnel engaged in the drive get adequate security.
Adding to the worries of the government, Delhi's traders on Sunday issued a fresh threat to resume their agitation if the sealing resumes.
Keen to avoid a confrontation with the judiciary, the MCD will also try to impress upon the court about the law and order situation and will particularly cite the stress on the police during the coming week as a large number of people are expected to come here on November 13 for a religious function of Nirankari Sangamam.
Sources said MCD will plead for a deferment of the drive but will categorically inform the court that it would resume the action against illegal shops in residential areas if directed to do so but will emphasise the need for "adequate" security for its officials carrying out the sealing.
If the court directs re-starting of the drive, MCD will target the South Zone of the capital, they said adding nodal officers and sealing teams have been alerted in this regard.
In their applications before the apex court, the Centre and MCD have submitted that the traders who have filed affidavits, are feeling aggrieved as against the other traders escaping sealing till January 31, 2007 even without giving any undertaking.
The apex court is also expected to look into two reports submitted by its monitoring panel which details the reluctance of the civic body to resume sealing despite its directions.
The three-member monitoring panel is understood to have taken a "stern" view of the failure of MCD to resume the sealing drive against unauthorised business establishments and has told the court about it in its latest report.
The committee has detailed the "factual position" with regard to the drive, especially the developments over the last few days when the action, that was earlier scheduled to resume on November one, was repeatedly deferred in the wake of a three-day traders' bandh and the violence that accompanied it.
Meanwhile, anxious traders expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would give a favourable direction on the issue.
City traders, who met twice in the day to fine tune their strategy, hoped the court would take into consideration their "future".
"We are worried and anxiously waiting. We have belief in the judiciary and hope that it will take into consideration our future while deciding on the matter," Confederation of All India Traders Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.
"We think that after the court directions, there will be some kind of deliberations in the government level. We are waiting for that and hope that the drive will not be resumed," he said.
Various trade bodies across the country have expressed its solidarity with city shopkeepers who are facing sealing and have threatened to call a 'Bharat Bandh' if the government resumes the drive.
Traders are also thinking about launching a 'non-cooperation' movement like not paying tax if the drive is re-started.
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