But, SC considers relief for small traders if they stop commercial activities in their illegal shops.
NEW DELHI: The offices of Ernst and Young and the Indian Institute of Public Management (IIPM) were among those which fell in the ambit of the sealing drive on Wednesday as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi turned its attention to building violations in the prestigious Qutab Institutional Area in south Delhi.
While IIPM absolutely refused to comment on the development, officials at Ernst and Young said they had been given sufficient time to remove their equipment. “We have shifted most of our stuff to our offices in Gurgaon and Munirka and to some rented places. We are now desperately looking for some alternative location,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court finally showed some leniency towards traders. As many as 25,000 traders, who had filed an affidavit initially with the 44,000 traders, were given relief provided they discontinue commercial activities in their premises. These traders had earlier filed an affidavit in the court that they would shut their shops. However, when the new government notification was introduced in September, which exempted their shops from sealing, they refused to do so.
The court also gave relief to ration and kerosene shops, which have been exempted from sealing. The SC has set November 20 as the deadline for traders to stop all illegal activities in residential areas and also to inform the SC monitoring committee about the closures. Traders, on the other hand, have begun a relay hunger strike to put pressure on the government to take up the issue of sealing when the Parliament’s winter session opens next week.
They also met leader of opposition LK Advani who assured them that he himself would take up the issue with the Prime Minister. “We have started a hunger strike to ensure that the government does not sleep over this issue and forget to raise it in parliament. We have also requested Advaniji to lead a delegation of traders to meet Manmohan Singh so we can apprise him with the problems being faced by us,” said Praveen Khandelwal, president of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
Trading woes
Nearly 25,000 traders got some relief when the Supreme Court said it would consider exempting their shops from being sealed provided they stop commercial activities in their establishments
Other traders met leader of opposition LK Advani requesting him to take up the issue in the winter session of the Parliament which will begin soon
