New Delhi: The Delhi government has pulled up the district magistrate (south) for alleged “inaction” related to the Mehrauli demolition drive and directed him again to carry out fresh demarcation in the area, officials said on Tuesday.
Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot had directed the DM (south) last week to carry out fresh demarcation of “disputed” area after the affected residents alleged that the demarcation exercise was done keeping them in the dark.
In an order issued by Gahlot on Tuesday, it was alleged that DM (south) neither complied with the direction for fresh demarcation nor asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to stop the ongoing demolition exercise.
The copy of the order has been sent to DDA vice chairman Subhasish Panda reiterating that the demolition drive cannot be carried out without demarcation.
“In the face of large scale demolition by DDA, such non-compliance by DM (South) with regard to demarcation exercise which is the basis for carrying out demolition activities, makes DM (south) complicit in the whole affair,” said the order of the revenue minister.
The DM (south) has been once again directed to comply with the directions to start fresh demarcation exercise with immediate effect, it added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court directed the authorities to maintain status quo till February 16 on various properties in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area in the national Capital which have been identified to be demolished as part of an anti-encroachment drive.
The high court also asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to state its stand on a batch of petitions challenging the demolition action and seeking a bar on demolition in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area in south Delhi till a fresh “demarcation report” has been prepared.
A large number of petitions on the issue were listed for hearing before two different judges Justice Mini Pushkarna and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.
Nearly 20 multi-storey buildings, a large number of shops and houses and a private school building are among the structures constructed “illegally” over the last few decades in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, which the authorities have identified as part of the anti-encroachment drive.
Without interfering with the demolition exercise at this stage, Justice Pushkarna issued notice to the Delhi government and DDA on the petition by Mehrauli Minorities Resident And Shop Owners Welfare and directed that the matter be placed before the division bench headed by the Chief Justice, where a similar matter is already pending.
The drive, which began on February 10, comes a month ahead of a proposed G20 meeting at the park in south Delhi. According to the DDA, the old park has about 55 monuments under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India, state archeological department and the urban civic body.
The petitioner, who was raising the issue of demarcation report, submitted that
Mehrauli has many slum clusters and several waqf properties, including mosques and dargahs, were located there.
He alleged the revenue minister of the Delhi government said on February 11 that a fresh “demarcation report” should be prepared as the present report has “certain objections” and, in the meantime, no demolition exercise should be carried out.
The DDA counsel said it is the land owning agency in the present case and the demolition exercise is in terms of
the order passed by a division bench of the high court in December last year for removal of encroachments.
The lawyer contended the demarcation report is of the year 2021 and the minister cannot sit in review over it.
In the batch of pleas before Justice Arora, the court also directed the petitioners and their lawyers to meet DDA’s Deputy Director of Land Management at his office tomorrow at 3.30 PM to present their claims on respective land parcels.
It asked the DDA to file a demarcation report with respect to the subject properties by Wednesday afternoon.
Advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, representing the residents of Green Apartments in Mehrauli, said there are 62 families residing in 62
flats and the entire action of the DDA is illegal because the authorities are going ahead with the drive without giving any opportunity to the residents to be heard.