Sealing: Delhi traders threaten protests, demand scrapping of monitoring panel
The traders alleged that the monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court to carry out the sealing drive was behaving in an “arbitrary manner”.
Traders in Delhi are planning a campaign against the sealing drive carried out on the orders of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. They alleged that the committee is behaving in an “arbitrary manner”.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Monday said from next week, it will stage protests in all major markets against the sealing drive. “The monitoring committee is behaving in an arbitrary manner. From next week, we will hold protest in all the markets in the city,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT.
Khandelwal said, “The committee is not accepting the amendments made to the Master Plan of Delhi by the Centre and has stalled the de-sealing process. We demand immediate dissolution of the monitoring committee.”
A member of the monitoring committee said, “The Centre has notified the plan even as the amendments were under scrutiny by the apex court.”
The traders demanded an amnesty scheme to protect traders from sealing. “Business premises as on December 31, 2018, should be allowed to run on ‘as is where is’ basis and strict implementation of laws should be made in future,” he said.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation SDMC has moved the Supreme Court to de-seal some of the properties that fulfil norms under the Master Plan 2021, which was amended and notified by the Centre in June last year to provide relief to traders whose premises had been shut for violating zoning laws.
Member of the panel, KJ Rao, said on Sunday that the committee isn’t against de-sealing but cannot permit the exercise as the amendments to Master Plan-2021 were still under scrutiny.