Sealing: Patil, Sheila discuss law

New Delhi, Oct 27: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil today held a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Lt Governor B L Joshi to discuss the law and order situation in view of the Supreme Court order to seal shops in the national capital from November 1.

Ms Dikshit told reporters that the meeting discussed the law and order sitation and the options available before the government.

''We discussed what could be done to calm down the situation,'' Ms Dikshit said. She said the law and order situation is under control and the Delhi government would strive to maintain it.

The Group of Ministers on the sealing issue, headed by Mr Patil, would meet tomorrow to decide on the course of action to be taken by the government.

The meeting was attended by Home Secretary V K Duggal, Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul and other senior officials of Home and Urban Development Ministries.

Earlier, traders representatives met Mr Duggal and urged him to take some measures to safeguard the fate of about five lakh traders in the capital.

The worst affected from the Apex Court order are the 44000 traders who had submitted affidavite to close down their operations by October 31 as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi would start their sealing from November 1.

Mr Praveen Khandelwal of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said the Government should amend the Constitution to save the livelihood of traders or it should move the Supreme Court seeking extention of relief from sealing to all the traders including 44000 who had already submitted affidavits and all the 2183 roads.

''There should not be any sealing from November 1,'' he said.

Traders said that since the process of adding new roads has not been stayed by the court till January 31,2007 and the government actively considering to notify more roads, the sealing should be kept in abeyance. The government can also state that since it is giving final touches to Master Plan 2001, where all contentious issues of the last eight months are being addressed, sealing can be kept in abeyance. A tentative date of notifying Master Plan 2021 can also be stated, as deemed appropriate.

UNI

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