Delhi: Shop sealing on hold till Oct 31

The Supreme Court on Friday accepted the notifications issued by the Central government on September 7 and 15, allowing mixed use of residential areas for commercial purposes, and put on hold the shop sealing operations till October 31.

While the court provided relief to 22 categories of small traders but told the traders falling under A and B categories to wind up their business premises by October 31. Municipal Corporation of Delhi had notified over 2000 roads for exemption.

There will be no sealing in the capital till October 31, allowing the trading community to do their business in the festival season unhindered.

Delivering the judgment, Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal asked the government to honour the sanctity of the judiciary and not bring notifications to bypass the courts. The court said that the traders will have to give undertaking that they will accept the final judgment as and when it comes.

The apex court gave permission to the traders, whose premises have been sealed but are covered by the notifications, to apply to the monitoring committee.

Jasbir Singh Malik, advocate for the Delhi Pradesh Citizen's Council, hoped that the final judgment would come in their favour. The DPCC had appealed against the notification alleging that mixed use of residential premises for commercial purposes was harming the interests of the law abiding citizens.

Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of the Confederation of the All India Traders, said they planned to meet President A P J Abdul Kalam and seek his intervention. "We are meeting Home Minister Shivraj Patil later in the evening and then we would ask for the appointment with the President. I appeal to the government to bring an ordinance or have a join session to bring the amended Delhi Master plan to protect the interests of the traders," Khandelwal told rediff.com.