New Delhi, March 23
Coming down heavily on the MCD for trying to link its order on sealing with elections to the civic body’s House, the Supreme Court today directed it to resume the sealing of illegal shops from March 28 in all those areas not covered under the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021 and roads and streets outside last year’s two notifications on mixed land use.

In view of the MCD elections scheduled for April 4, 5 and 7, the civic body had moved an application before the Delhi State Election Commission, but it declined to intervene in the matter since it was sub judice.

“It (sealing order) is not election process… but electoral politics is being brought to the Court,” a Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat, P K Balarubramanyan and D K Jain told Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan appearing for the Centre and MCD counsel Sanjeev Sen.

The Court asked them how could a matter being heard by the Court be overseen by the poll panel.

“We find it surprising that instead of seeking direction from us, MCD filed application to seek advice and direction from the Election Commission. It is most unfortunate that such a statutory (MCD) acts in such a manner,” the Bench observed.

While directing the MCD to resume the sealing drive in areas not covered by the MPD and those outside the 2,183 roads and streets brought under the mixed land use, the Court, however, said the sealing action would not be carried out in the period between April 4 and 7.

The Court said if the Centre and MCD needed any clarification regarding its March 9 order where by the direction was issued to continue with the sealing drive in unconfirmed areas, they could have approached it with open mind instead of going to the Election Commission.

Sharan and the MCD counsel expressed regret and pleaded that the sealing be deferred at least till the polling was over, but the Court declined their request and said at the most it could be deferred till the ongoing “Navratri” festival is over. The Court on March 9 had rejected the Centre and MCD’s applications for halting the sealing though at that time they had not cited the elections as a reason.

The Court had said that the sealing could not be stopped in those areas which were not covered for mixed land use either under the Master Plan or the two notifications.

The March 9 order had come on a report of the Court appointed Monitoring Committee, which alleged that it was not getting any co-operation from the MCD to continue the sealing of illegal shops in unconfirmed areas.

New Delhi, March 23
The Confederation of all India Traders (CAIT) has demanded that the Union government appear once again in the apex court to clarify its position and request the apex court to revise its order on sealing delivered today.

Meanwhile, the traders have decided to move the supreme court in all probability by tomorrow to plead for the de-sealing of business establishments covered under Master Plan 2021.

According to the traders, the Court permitted the federation to move an application for necessary orders of de-sealing

CAIT Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal said that the Union government by keeping its promise made in the past must reappear in the Supreme Court to plead for revising the order made today while clarifying the issue, which annoyed the Court.

New Delhi, March 23
Addressing several meetings in South Delhi, West Delhi and Karol Bagh districts, the Chairman of the BJP Delhi Pradesh Election Campaign Committee Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra today strongly criticised the statement of the Congress General Secretary and in-charge of Delhi Affairs Mr Ashok Gehlot in which he had said that sealing and price spiral were not the issues in the MCD elections.

Terming this as an immature statement, he said that this was just like adding insult to the injury of crores of voters of Delhi suffering due to price spiral and demolition.

“The people of Delhi are very much suffering due to the increase of about 50 to 300 per cent in the prices of water, power, flour, pulses, tea, sugar, rice, vegetable etc. and they would take revenge by casting their votes against the Congress on the April 5,” he said.

Prof Malhotra said that the sealing had affected lakhs of people and resulted in sealing of more than 60 thousand shops and 20 thousand houses besides the demolition campaign in which thousands lost their livelihood, but the Congress did not accept this as an issue.

“Have the Congressmen forgotten that time when thousands of people had come out in streets due to sealing and raised slogans against the Congress Government. The danger of demolition and sealing is still hanging on about 10 lakh houses and three lakh shops, but the Congress does not consider it to be an issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP Delhi Pradesh President Dr Harsh Vardhan has called upon party workers to fortify each polling booth in such a way that Congress candidates lose their security deposit and the BJP candidates win by record votes.

Addressing the local residents and workers during canvassing in favour of BJP candidates Sardar Gurmeet Singh from Anarkali, Nirmal Jain from Shahdara, Dr. V.K. Monga from Krishna Nagar and Somesh Kapoor from Azad Nagar seats, he advised the candidates to make personal contact with each voter in their wards.

“The workers should prepare a list of 15 to 20 families and by contacting every member of those families, request them to vote in favour of the BJP,” he said.

Dr Harsh Vardhan appealed to the voters to make the BJP candidates Raghuvir Singh Jain, Geeta Sharma, Rajesh Gaur and S.S. Bajwa victorious from Gandhi Nagar, Dharampura, Ghondali and Anand Vihar seats respectively by big margins.

Making public contact in these areas, he called upon the general public to not lose the opportunity to free Delhi from the grip of the corrupt Congress by pressing the button of lotus on April 5. “They should dislodge the anti people and oppressive Congress from the MCD,” he said.

The BJP Pradesh President said that due to its low grade politics for votes, the Congress Government had again brought lakhs of people of Delhi within the ambit of sealing. “It is again going to be started on March 28 which will result in depriving livelihood of lakhs of people due to the evil intentions of the Congress,” he said.

New Delhi, March 23
Warning rebels against indiscipline, the Congress here today declared ‘strict action’ against those going against the party’s line in the forthcoming municipal elections.

Appealing to the rebels to return to the ‘party fold’ and respect the party line, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Ram Babu Sharma said whoever breaks the party discipline would be dealt with sternly.

Calling the recent meeting of some councillors with the party president Sonia Gandhi as a healthy trend and an indication of their faith in party policies, Mr Sharma said they have assured her of their support for the official candidate.

Refuting claims of nepotism in ticket distribution and the party being plagued with groupism, Mr Sharma said such canards were being spread by the BJP as it had become totally demoralised after the Supreme Court verdict of the Delhi Master Plan 2021 which had provided relief to 95 per cent of the Delhi populace.

Mocking at BJP’s claim of being a ‘disciplined, cadre-based party’, the DPCC chief said the rejection of its candidate Sharmila Pande’s nomination by the Election Commission from ward no 147 for not submitting her election expenses account has exposed its real face.

“It seems the BJP is not accountable to the people because submission of election expenses was an obligation towards the people,” he added.

New Delhi, March 23
The Delhi Election Commissioner, Mr S. P. Marwah today announced that there would be 9,673 polling stations in 272 Municipal Wards for a total of 99.62 lakh voters in the national Capital. There are a total of 2,575 candidates in the fray.

The polling station will be divided into 1060 sectors and each sector will be under a sector officer. Each sector officer will be provided a wireless fitted vehicle. His job will be to deliver Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to the presiding officer in his sector before 7 A. M. on the day of polling that is April 5. He will also find out that polling is going on smoothly, law and order.

It will be his duty to deliver the EVM and other election related material at the counting centre after the election.

The Election Commissioner warned the candidates against violation of model code of conduct. So far 6,517 hoardings, 2,069 banners, four wall writings and 5,297 posters have been removed by the Delhi police from various areas of the national Capital. Seventy eight FIRs have been lodged against the candidates under the West Bengal Prevention of Defacement of Property Act.

New Delhi, March 23
The NGO People’s Action today released a factual round-up of an exercise aimed at increasing the participation of civil society in the forthcoming municipal polls.

“By initiating RWAs through a 5-step procedure to identify genuine, worthy candidates from among their own wards and to either put them up for adoption by political parties or set them up for an independent claim on the seat, we have attempted to challenge the existing system of ticket distribution and advanced the theory of a more transparent system of candidate selection,” said Sanjay Kaul, President People’s Action.

“Of the 70 wards we had identified in the first instance as areas where there was a sizeable middle class population and where candidates identified by the RWAs could make a serious difference in the poll outcomes, candidates in 35 wards finally participated in the exercise,” he said.

“All 35 succeeded in forming Resident Ward Committees made up of various RWAs within the ward numbering from 8 to 20 in each ward. Of these, 22 Wards completed the 5-step procedure laid down by us as a pre-requisite for declaring a candidate, but only 18 were successful in declaring a consensus candidate. Of these, only nine were finally able to manage to withstand pressures of all sorts and have the selected candidates in the fray,” he added

“In all, over 350 RWAs participated directly in this exercise involving over 4,000 members of their executive, thousands more as residents who participated in public meetings and corner discussions on the subject as we prepared the round for the exercise,” Mr Kaul said.

He said that apart from this, they received applications from over 150 candidates from wards where RWAs were either non-existent or not organised. “We clubbed these candidates under the ‘People’s Candidate’ programme. Of the applications we received, close to 30 were found to be worthy of interviews, about 18 were taken through a process of ‘field tests’ and reference checks, public endorsements, and finally 12 were okayed,” he added.

“In all, this composite process has allowed us to identify 21 candidates who have come through a democratic procedure by consensus, without having to ‘pay’ for tickets, or exhibiting a capacity to bribe their voters by way of money or liquor and who are answerable to a wider group of residents from within their ward,” he said.

Noida, March 23
After the filing of the chargesheet by CBI against Nithari serial killing accused Moninder Singh Pandher, Surinder Koli and the dismissed SI Simranjit Kaur, there is such a palpable tension in Nithari again that the Noida police had to put up barricades on the Nithari road and around the ‘Khooni Kothi’ in Sector-31.

The victims’ families are quite annoyed at CBI giving almost a clean chit to Moninder Singh. The CBI statement in the press conference yesterday saw the victims’ relatives alleging that CBI was out to protect the key accused, Moninder.

The victims’ families, which are staying put around D-5, said they have decided to meet the President and appeal to him for justice.

The CBI had presented its first chargesheet in Nithari case in the court and later given its details at a press conference in New Delhi yesterday. Watching the press conference on a TV channel, the Nithari victims had become livid and
started closing in on the ‘Khooni Kothi’ menacingly.

Anticipating trouble, the circle officer reached the spot with a large police force and quickly put up barricades on the main road and around D-5 Kothi. Some women were taken into custody in the afternoon and whisked away in jeeps to the police station, Sector-20. Even today barricades and roadblocks were maintained with sizeable police presence in the area. The Nithari victims had indulged in slogan-shouting and stone-pelting. Police had to chase them repeatedly.

Gurgaon, March 23
The district administration has set in motion the process for an integrated approach for evolution of Gurgaon-Manesar as twin townships.

While at one level, the administration is making efforts to coordinate the efforts of departments and agencies like the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC), it has also initiated dialogue with various stake-holders like Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs), social and professional groups and voluntary associations.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Satya Prakash, has been made the nodal officer to help in the process of evolving an integrated approach towards development of Gurgaon and Manesar.

The latest in the series was the district administration inviting the Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to put their views.

A delegation of the GCCI led by its founder president Mr P.K.Jain, submitted a study paper delineating the body’s perspective on the future plan and growth of Gurgaon and Manesar.

Presenting an in-depth study, the GCCI cautioned that the administration and the planners will have to give due care to the basics like environmental issues and protecting the Aravali Hills which, apart from being part of heritage of Haryana, also contributed to the ecological balance of the area.

It also urged that all that, including infrastructure and civic amenities, required for a quality life must be factored into and provided for in any future plans of the two townships.

The GCCI put forward suggestions on a broad spectrum of issues right from drinking water, sewage, drainage, cultural and educational centres, transport system, parking plans, electricity, etc.

It also stressed ‘ring’ city concept which means that facilities like fire brigade, electricity, should be provided. In effect, they should be all near to each other to meet any exigency.

New Delhi, March 23
A Delhi court has summoned a Deputy Commissioner of Police to explain reasons for the failure of the police to arrest two accused wanted for the murder of a man here.

The report filed on behalf of DCP (Crime) does not give any satisfactory reply to the query as to why the accused, against whom section 302 (Murder) of the IPC has been added in the FIR, had not been arrested in the case, a Metropolitan Magistrate said.

The accused Sanjay and Hira Nand have not been apprehended by the police despite the order of the court to invoke section 302 (Murder) of the IPC against them.

The court, in a recent order, has summoned the officer for explanation in the matter on April 24.

The murder is the most serious offence mentioned in Indian Penal Code. It is highly unfortunate that the persons against whom section 302 (Murder) had been invoked, have yet to be arrested, the Magistrate said.

Praveen, a resident of Mori Gate under Sabzi Mandi police station, who left with the two accused Sanjay and Hira Nand on a scooter, had died in suspicious circumstances on March 13, 2005.

The police, relying on the statement of accused Sanjay that the deceased was crushed by a three-wheeler after falling down from the scooter at Azad Market here, had lodged an FIR invoking sections 279 (Rash driving) and 304a (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.

The father of the deceased, Rattan Lal contacted senior police officers alleging that both the accused had killed his son and the investigating officer in an effort to shield them had converted the murder into a case of road accident.

Finding no favourable response from the officer concerned, Lal filed a complaint in the court seeking registration of a murder case against the accused.

In the said accident, the scooter received no scratch and the pillion-rider also did not get injury mark, while Praveen, who was driving the vehicle, had died, counsel for the accused had submitted in the court.

The investigating officer, however, had concluded in his report that Praveen had died in the accident between the scooter and the three-wheeler and whereabouts of three-wheeler driver were not known.

The investigation in the case has been conducted in a lop-sided manner. Even the statement of Lal, father of the deceased, was not recorded by the police, the court had observed.

The magistrate also directed the Commissioner of Police to initiate departmental action against the investigating officer, Sub Inspector Raj Kumar as well as Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahesh Sharma, for not performing their duty.

Both the officers, however, filed revision petition against the order of the Magistrate before a Sessions Court, which had refused to stay the order. — PTI

New Delhi, March 23
A Delhi court has issued a bailable warrant against a Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police after he failed to appear before it despite a notice to him in connection with a dowry harassment case.

“Not only the subordinate wing of the police is avoiding appearances in the court, even the senior officers are reluctant. False assurances are given to the court making a mockery of its proceedings,” Additional Sessions Judge S K Aggarwal said.

The court, in a recent order, issued the bailable warrant for the sum of Rs 5,000 against the Joint Commissioner and also directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) to appear in person before it on March 26.

An application, requesting the cancellation of the bailable warrant, was also turned down by the court yesterday.

The matter came to light after an anticipatory bail application was moved before Additional Sessions Judge V P Vaishya by Suresh Chandra, counsel for Kuldeep Chauhan, an accused in a case of dowry harassment, on February 21.

The court was surprised to note that despite the dismissal of Chauhan’s previous anticipatory bail application in June last year, he was neither arrested nor police started any legal proceedings against him.

A case invoking Sections 498A (husband or relative subjecting the woman to cruelty) and 406 (breach of trust) of the IPC was registered against Chauhan with the Sultanpuri police station in November last year.

Taking it as a serious lapse on the part of the investigating agency, the Additional Sessions Judge had issued notice to the DCP asking him to appear before the court on March 5.

On March 5, the DCP had sought exemption from personal appearance and submitted that the Station House Officer, Sultanpuri, had been deputed to appear in the court. The court, finding the SHO absent, had then issued notice to the Joint Commissioner of Police seeking his presence on March 19.

Noida, March 23
About half a dozen suppliers of raw material were thrashed by a mill management when they were invited into the mill to claim payments in Dadri yesterday. Their cars were also damaged by the mill goons.

According to information available, the suppliers and traders were asked to come with bounced checks issued by the mill management and in lieu of the checks get cash. About half a dozen suppliers were rushed to government hospital with injuries. But till late night, no FIR had been registered. According to Dadri police, the factory making iron rods had procured raw material from nearby suppliers. The cheques, issued by the mill management for the raw material supplied, had

bounced. The suppliers had informed the mill management about it and repeatedly requested for their payments.

On Thursday, the mill management had invited about a dozen suppliers asking them to bring the bounced cheques along and take cash payment. In the meeting, the traders said they would return the bounced cheques only after receiving the cash. The mill management then got all the suppliers beaten up by goons.

New Delhi, March 23
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police today claimed to have busted a notorious gang of burglars with the arrest of six members – Jitender Kumar (31), Ramesh (21), Arvind Kumar (22), Shakil (26), Abdul Majeed (22) and Kishan Dev Yadav (55) — of the gang from Civil Lines area.

Stolen goods worth more than Rs 7 lakh along with one country made pistol and two live cartridges were allegedly recovered from their possession.

The police had laid a trap in the area following a tip off that the gang was planning to strike in Civil Line area at night and would assemble in a park next to a CNG filling station, a trap was laid near the area.

When challenged, one member of the gang allegedly opened fire at the police party, but all of them were overpowered without any bloodshed.

During interrogation, the gangsters allegedly revealed that the gang used to strike frequently in godowns and milk booths in North-West district area.

With their arrest, nine cases of burglary and theft have been worked out, said a police officer.

New Delhi, March 23
With the arrest of two persons–Ghanshayam, and Ajeet Kumar Mishra, the East district police today claimed to have busted a gang of extortionists demanding Rs 5 lakh from a Preet Vihar-based businessman.

The businessman Sushil Gupta had made complaint in this regard that he was being regularly threatened by unknown callers.

The complainant was receiving ransom calls from various PCOs of Azadpur, Wazirpur and Model Town. All the PCO owners were interrogated and the description of suspects was taken from them.

When a ransom call was received by the complainant, it was fixed to deliver the ransom amount near Akash Cinema, Azadpur. As per plan, a trap was laid near the area and both the suspects were caught, said a police officer.