Sealing: SC to pronounce order on contempt proceedings against BJP MP Manoj Tiwari

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce Thursday its order on contempt proceedings against Delhi BJP chief and Lok Sabha MP Manoj Tiwari for allegedly breaking the seal of a premises here.

The property was sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur had on October 30 reserved its order after hearing arguments in the matter during which Tiwari had accused the court-mandated monitoring committee on sealing of "terrorising" people of Delhi.

The panel, however, had claimed that he was trying to make the court a "political battleground".

An FIR was also lodged against Tiwari by the EDMC for allegedly breaking the seal of the premises in Gokalpuri area in north-east Delhi on September 16.

The apex court had on September 19 issued contempt notice against Tiwari, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the north-east Delhi constituency, after taking note of a report filed by the monitoring committee which had alleged that the BJP leader had broken the seal of the premises.

Tiwari had claimed before the top court that monitoring committee has exceeded its jurisdiction and conducted sealing drive in unauthorised colonies here that were protected under the law.

Senior counsel Vikas Singh, appearing for the BJP leader, had claimed before the bench that "monitoring committee want to terrorise the people of Delhi. This is only for publicity".

Countering his arguments, advocate A D N Rao, appearing for the committee, had said the panel does not need any "publicity" and its members were "only performing their jobs entrusted to them by the Supreme Court".

Tiwari's counsel had said a mob of around 1,500 people had gathered at the spot and if Tiwari would not have broken the seal in "token protest", any untoward incident could have happened there.

He had also argued that there was no violation of the top court order in the matter, as projected by the committee.

The top court had earlier ordered restoration of its 2006 monitoring committee to identify and seal unauthorised structures in Delhi.

The monitoring committee, comprising K J Rao, former advisor to the Election Commissioner, Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, and Major General (Retd) Som Jhingan, was set up on March 24, 2006, by the top court.