INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - MAY 2006
THE MONTH THAT WAS...

PARLIAMENT OKAYS BILL TO HALT MCD DRIVE

   The Congress and the BJP on Monday got together to ensure the passage of a bill proposing a one-year moratorium on the demolition and sealing drive against unauthorised constructions in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Delhi Laws (Special Provision), Bill, 2006 by a voice vote after members, cutting across party lines, demanded immediate stoppage of demolitions and sealing of shops. The bill, piloted by urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy, provides for status quo as on January 1, 2006 of unauthorised development in respect of mixed land use, construction beyond sanctioned plans and encroachments by slum-dwellers, hawkers and street vendors in the capital.

Mr Reddy said the bill provides an opportunity to set the system right in Delhi and look at it from a new perspective. The measure came after stepped up demands by affected persons and political parties to halt demolitions and sealing of commercial establishments in the capital. The minister said if millions of people in Delhi were on the wrong side of the law there must be something wrong with the law. The earlier master plans for Delhi reflected the grand vision of town planners. At the same time, he said there was a need to accommodate harsh realities.

The minister said after the passage of the legislation, the shops that were sealed would be de-sealed and shopkeepers, who had filed affidavits, would be allowed to run their businesses after June. On the issue of 1,400 unauthorised colonies in the city, Mr Reddy said his ministry had prepared a note for consideration of the Cabinet to regularise them.

The urban development minister said encroachments on government land would not be allowed either prospectively or retrospectively. He said the crisis facing the city would have been avoided if the then NDA government had finalised the master plan for 2021. Mr Reddy said the legislation was for a year only and it lays down the work for government agencies to deal with the situation in the city.

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