Civic authorities did not carry out any drive against illegal commercial establishments in residential areas, as SC will decide the future on Friday.
NEW DELHI: Civic authorities in the national capital did not carry out any drive against commercial establishments running illegally in residential areas on Thursday even as the Supreme Court is set to decide the future of traders on Friday.
"Baring our routine drive, we did not carry out any special drive against shops running in residential areas. The apex court will hear the case Friday and after that we will take appropriate action," said a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official.
Jan 31 was the last day for the city traders to submit affidavits appealing the apex court to spare them from the sealing drive. In November last year, the court had granted them temporary relief till Jan 31.
The MCD official, however, said that they took action against 64 establishments for encroaching upon the government land Thursday.
A court-appointed monitoring committee said that they had furnished all their reports to the apex court and it will give appropriate direction on Friday.
The three-member committee, headed by retired bureaucrat KJ Rao, was entrusted with the job of looking after the sealing of commercial establishments running in residential areas.
"As per the direction, we have been submitting weekly reports in the court and the judiciary will give us further direction tomorrow," Rao said.
He, however, said that they have not received any report from the MCD on the number of affidavits submitted by traders before the Jan 31 deadline. "We expect the report to reach us by Friday morning."
According the MCD, 44,675 traders from all the 12 zones have submitted their affidavit during the last extension of the deadline.
Meanwhile, anxious city traders said they were expecting a favourable order from the court.
"Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy has assured us that there would be no sealing till Feb 7, before which date the government will implement the new master plan for Delhi (MPD). We hope the court will take note of our concern and help us to sustain our livelihood," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders.
On Jan 29, Reddy had said, "There is absolutely no question of sealing from Feb 1." Earlier, the central government had said it would bring the MPD-2021 by Jan 31.
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