Delhi Assembly panel to look into sealing drive

Goel referred the matter to the existing nine-member committee headed by Aam Aadmi Party legislator Bhavna Gaur and asked it to submit a report in the next Assembly session.

The sealing drive was discussed in the Assembly for most of the past two days with the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP blaming each other for the drive.

The sealing drive is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes, and it is being implemented by the three BJP-led municipal corporations in the national capital.

The AAP MLAs alleged that businessmen were being "harassed" by the corporations and that there was "huge corruption" involved in the process.

The Monitoring Committee was set up by the Supreme Court in 2006 for sealing the premises of erring businessmen. But in 2012, the apex court asked the committee to stop the drive.

In December 2017, the Supreme Court ordered resumption of the sealing drive and revived the Monitoring Committee.

The AAP had opposed the committee's revival in the Supreme Court and later accused the municipal corporations of corruption in the process.

"Action is being taken against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes without paying conversion charges," North Delhi Municipal Corporation spokesperson Yogendra Mann told IANS.