The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that they are preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for heritage sites under its control and geomapping of the notified heritage structures to facilitate more accurate identification and conservation from future encroachment and neglect.
The document was filed by the corporation in a petition filed by Delhi resident Rajeev Suri, where the court is monitoring the preservation and upkeep of heritage structures and sites in Delhi managed and controlled by the ASI, the Delhi government, and civic agencies. We are not able to understand how such a stand could be taken by MCD.” The development assumes significance as two months ago, the court had pulled up the agency for suppressing facts and misleading the court on the encroachment status of five Grade-1 heritage buildings in south Delhi’s Zamroodpur even as a report by HT showed them to be under heavy encroachment. Suri filed an application highlighting an HT report from August 10 depicting a sorry state of affairs in Zamroodpur’s heritage tombs, which are under heavy encroachment. He further informed the court that on April 10 this year, MCD filed a status report indicating that upon survey, one of the five tombs located in Delhi’s Zamroodpur conservation was in a satisfactory state, while encroachment and littering were noticed around three other structures. Further, the court-appointed commissioners, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan along with advocates Nipun Saxena and Vishal Sinha, pointed out that in Zamroodpur, there are five Grade-1 heritage buildings under MCD, of which one cannot be traced. On August 24, the bench of justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and N Kotiswar Singh pulled up the MCD for misleading the court and said, “There is total callousness and suppression of facts by the MCD, as it is revealed how MCD took a categorical stand that such structure was free of encroachment.
The court referred to the HT report along with a report by another national daily and said, “The pictures are so appalling.
The status report did not depict the clear picture and the HT report testified how facts were being suppressed before the court. This was informed by the civic agency in an affidavit filed on Monday ahead of a hearing before the top court on Wednesday on protection and preservation of heritage sites in Delhi.
