Why power of only 692 industrial units disconnected, when figure was 30,000 asks SC
New Delhi, Mar 14: The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi government to explain as to why the electricity connection of only 692 industrial units, running illegally in residential and non-conforming areas, was disconnected when it was stated earlier that around 30,000 such units had been closed down.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta observed it appeared that figure given earlier was of 30,000 industrial units which were stated to have been closed down by the authorities.
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"Now the compliance report dated February 27, 2019 filed by the Government of NCT of Delhi indicates that in total 692 industrial units, electricity connection has been disconnected, whereas earlier the figure was of 30,000 industrial units," the bench said.
"Let
the
aforesaid
aspect
be
explained
as
to
how
the
figure
has
been
reduced
to
692
units
only.
Let
an
affidavit
be
filed
by
the
Principal
Secretary-cum-Commissioner
of
Industries,
Government
of
NCT
of
Delhi,
explaining
the
aforesaid,"
the
bench
said
in
its
order.
The
court
has
posted
the
matter
for
further
hearing
on
April
1.
In its February 4 order, the court had noted that counsel appearing for Delhi government had sought four weeks' time to disconnect water and electricity supply of 30,000 industrial units.
The top court had last year termed as unfortunate that even after 14 years of setting up a monitoring committee to stop illegal industrial units in Delhi, thousands of them were still operating in residential areas.
The monitoring committee, constituted in pursuance to a 2004 order of the apex court, comprises of the chief secretary of Delhi, the commissioner of Delhi Police, the commissioners of municipal corporations of Delhi and the vice chairman of Delhi Development Authority.
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This issue had cropped up when the court was hearing the Delhi sealing matter.
The court is also seized of the issue related to validity of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations which protect unauthorised construction from being sealed.