NEW DELHI: Taking exception to
Delhi govt
‘s inability to remove the office of a political party that has encroached upon the land allotted to
Delhi high court
,
Supreme Court
on Tuesday directed it to clear the land, saying no one should be allowed to
breach the law
.
Aam Aadmi Party runs its office on the Rouse Avenue plot allotted to Delhi HC. The bungalow was the residence of Delhi’s transport minister but was later taken by the party.
“No one can take law into their own hands. How can a political party sit tight on that?” the bench said. It asked Delhi govt to give a timeline by Monday to hand over the plot. Though the name of the party was not taken during the hearing, lawyers confirmed it was AAP.
‘Plot needed to provide amenities to litigants’
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, which is monitoring the progress of improving judicial infrastructure in district courts, expressed surprise that the land which was allotted six years ago remained encroached by a political party.
The land was given to upgrade judicial infrastructure in the district court.
The court said the land was not needed for building bungalows for judges but for providing amenities to litigants and building courtrooms and directed that unencumbered possession of the land must be given to the high court.
Amicus curiae K Parameshwar informed the bench about the encroachment and the court thereafter directed Delhi’s chief secretary to hold a meeting with PWD secretary, finance secretary and registrar general of the high court to sort out the issue to remove encroachment..
Senior advocate Wassem Quadri, appearing for NCT govt, told the bench that it was not a case of encroachment as the bungalow was there on the land for many years but the bench made it clear that the land had to be handed over to Delhi HC. The court asked Delhi govt to give a timeline by Monday to hand over the plot to HC.
