SC posts for February hearing on 2006 law on illegal constructions

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for hearing in February 2019 the pleas relating to the validity of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006, and subsequent legislation protecting unauthorised construction in Delhi from sealing.

A bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur said that "we had made a mistake" when Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, an amicus curiae in the sealing matter, said that the bench had earlier transferred to itself the matter pending before the Delhi High Court.

Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni and Kumar then asked the bench, also comprising Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta, that other related issues like a monitoring committee and a special task force should also be heard by the bench.

The bench has been passing orders from time to time on the sealing drive in Delhi, asserting that it will continue.

The sealing drive is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes. It is being implemented by the three BJP-led Municipal Corporations of Delhi.

The committee was set up by the Supreme Court in 2006. In 2012, the apex court asked the committee to stop the drive. But in December 2017 it ordered resumption of the drive.