Court pulls up SDMC over manner of removal of encroachments

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for the manner in which it had removed encroachments from the Neeti Bagh area, after the court received a letter from senior advocate Soli Sorabjee alleging that officers of the civic body were derelict in their duty. 

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said it has received a letter from Sorabjee regarding the work carried out by SDMC to remove the encroachments and the communication indicated "the manner in which the action was taken, the lacunae in it and how the officers were derelict in their duty". 

It gave a copy of the letter to the corporation to note the concerns and to take appropriate action to address them, saying if what Sorabjee has said was correct, the officers have not discharged their duty. 

The court directed the corporation to file an action taken report and said if not satisfied by the report, it "will take coercive action against the officers concerned". 

The bench also made the Traffic Police a party in the matter as the letter claimed there was illegal and unauthorised parking in the area. The court sought a report from the Traffic Police on the issue of unauthorised parking and listed the matter for further hearing on September 20. 

The SDMC had taken the action on the orders of the court which had directed removal of the encroachments from the area after receiving a letter in May this year from senior lawyers and retired judges residing there. 

The court had on its own initiated a PIL plea on the joint letter sent by former attorney general and senior advocate Sorabjee, retired Supreme Court judge S C Agarwal, retired Delhi High Court judge M L Varma, Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand. 

In their letter they have claimed that traffic jams, illegal encroachments, unauthorised parkings and various other activities near Neeti Bagh was impeding the family life of all the residents there. 

In their plea for judicial intervention, they have sought directions to authorities to stop a juice shop and other vendors as well as a taxi stand there from encroaching upon public land. 

They have also alleged that the nearby land was being used in an unhygienic manner by the juice shop operators as well as other vendors and shops located there.