Nathu sweets -- license restored

New Delhi, July 12 (UNI) Delhi High Court stayed the cancellation of the license of Nathu Sweets shop, situated in Friends Colony, by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD), till August 9, 2007.

However, the court has asked the sweet shop to remove portions of its unauthorised construction till August 1.

Justice S Muralidhar questioned the MCD on the grounds for cancelling the license when the sweet shop had agreed to remove the unauthorised portions on the Mazzanine floor themselves.

Ms Smita Kapil, standing counsel for MCD, responded that since the undertaking by the sweet shop stated that the unauthorised portions of the construction were to be removed by July 9, 2007 and as the work had not been completed in the given time, its license was cancelled on the advice of the Health Officer.

V P Singh, senior counsel appearing for Nathu Sweets, contended that provisions of the Master Plan for Delhi 1962 and Master Plan 2021 clearly states that community centre can be used as "commercial office", which has been defined to include a restaurant.

The court had, earlier on May 28, passed an order to allow the sweet shop to remove its portion of the unauthorised construction by July 9.

Mr Singh contended that the Superitending Engineer of MCD should have determined whether the full - fledged kitchen run by them was permissible or not, before cancelling the license.

The court observed that it appears that the order of the cancellation of license seems to be for the unauthorised construction since no prior notice was issued for cancellation of license and no reason was specified, and thus granted the stay, of the license was allowed by the court.

The court directed Nathu Sweets to continue their steps of removal of unauthorised portion, granting them 20 days more, to complete the entire exercise by August 1.

The court directed the MCD to inspect the premises and file the status report in the court by August 9 and till then, the cancellation of the license was stayed.

It also directed the MCD to show the records to the court whether any prior notice was issued to the aggrieved party before cancellation of the license.

UNI