Sealing issue: CAIT urges Centre to promulgate ordinance

A month after the Supreme Court deferred hearing on matters related to sealing to next February, a traders body said Friday it has urged the Centre to promulgate an ordinance to protect their establishments from closure due to the drive.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in a statement said it has sent a communication to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in this connection.

The apex court on August 14 had said that issues related to validity of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations, which protect unauthorised constructions from being sealed in the national capital, would be heard in February next year.

The CAIT in the communication sent to Puri has asked for "promulgation of an ordinance to protect Delhi from sealing".

It has also called for a "one-time amnesty scheme" which means a "status quo" should me maintained as on December 31, 2017 and "violations if any should be condoned by levying certain reasonable charges".

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said it has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh too, calling for his immediate intervention in the matter.

The traders body has already called for a Delhi Trade Bandh on September 28.

The sealing had begin in December last year, and the DDA had brought in amendments to the Master Plan of Delhi 2021, seeking to bring relief to traders affected by the drive being undertaken by a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.