New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Friday said the party-ruled civic bodies will soon start de-sealing of thousands of residential properties sealed under directions of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.

At a press briefing, Gupta and his predecessor as well as northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari also welcomed the apex court's directions to the monitoring committee last week.

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The Supreme Court had last week said encroachment is a matter of concern but the monitoring committee, set up in 2006 to identify unauthorised structures and check misuse of residential properties in Delhi, "cannot exceed its power" and take any action beyond its authorisation.

A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had said at no point of time, the apex court has empowered the monitoring committee to take action with regard to "residential premises not used for commercial purpose" and it is not authorised to take action concerning residential premises situated on private land.

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The committee supervised the sealing drive against violations of Delhi's Master Plan, undertaken by the municipal corporations, started in 2017.

"We have directed the three municipal corporations to immediately start the de-sealing process. It will benefit 6,000 residential properties sealed under directions of the monitoring committee," Gupta said.

Delhi BJP has been "opposing" the work done by the monitoring committee "outside its jurisdiction" since the beginning, Gupta said.

He said the three municipal corporations should form a help desk and start working on the process of de-sealing.

Mayors of BJP-ruled north, south and east Delhi municipal corporations, Jai Prakash, Anamika Mithlesh and Nirmal Jain, respectively, were present during the press conference.

Tiwari who had faced contempt action for breaking seal of a property in Gokalpur in 2018, alleged that the monitoring committee worked in a "pick and choose" manner.

"Despite several complaints by me, it did not take any action on unauthorised construction of thousands of houses on Yamuna floodplain in Okhla," he said.

Tiwari demanded that Rs one lakh each deposited by owners of thousands of sealed properties should also be returned.

Both Gupta and Tiwari said the monitoring committee has become "irrelevant" as a special task force has been formed to deal with the issue of encroachment in Delhi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)