The Times of India reports this in their edi­tion dated 10^th July’ 2009. Within a couple of days Hindus­tan Times also repor­ted this.

We are ask­ing our experts to com­ment on this, with spe­cific rel­ev­ance to Lal Dora land par­cels. — —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  — —

New Delhi Mehrauli’s Qutub Minar trail had gone cold three years ago after the muni­cipal corporation’s fren­etic seal­ing drive. Most boutiques on the road lead­ing up to the Minar from the rear —that street of high fash­ion known as the Kalka Das Marg — had been shut for viol­a­tion of build­ing laws.

But another pro­vi­sion — the Delhi Laws (Spe­cial Pro­vi­sions Act) — is bring­ing back the bustle in this stretch. This Act provides pro­tec­tion to prop­er­ties that had been sealed, and till now had provided amnesty to sealed prop­er­ties in rural areas.

But this year, its cover has been expan­ded to urban areas as well — this par­tic­u­lar stretch being the imme­di­ate beneficiary.

The Act allows major prop­er­ties to con­tinue tem­por­ar­ily till they are con­ver­ted to their proper legal use. It has been exten­ded every year till now, from Janu­ary to December.

Mean­while, the brooms are out on this stretch to dust down the cob­webs. A pop­u­lar eat­ery here is the Olive Bar and Kit­chen, that is gear­ing up to throw its doors open. Though its blue, wooden gates are still chained, the lock now hangs from the inside. Sev­eral guards sit around watch­ing the men clean the large courtyard.

Adja­cent to Olive is the high-end boutique Carma, where work is on at a frantic pace.

De-sealing has come as an interim relief to own­ers whose prop­er­ties had been sealed on grounds of mis­use or unau­thor­ised con­struc­tion. Many high-end out­lets in Mehrauli like the One Style Mile — the stretch between Qutub Colon­nade and Ambawatta Com­plex — and other shops on M G Road had been sealed in this drive.

How­ever, the Delhi Laws (Spe­cial Pro­vi­sions) Act came into effect in 2006 after the Muni­cipal Cor­por­a­tion of Delhi (MCD) star­ted seal­ing com­mer­cial estab­lish­ments in res­id­en­tial colon­ies in Feb­ru­ary that year. An MCD offi­cial said: “The gov­ern­ment brought urban areas under the pro­tec­tion umbrella of the Act this year to res­cue the major prop­er­ties that were lying sealed. Till last year, only the rural vil­lage or abadi land was protected.”

Muni­cipal sources said these prop­er­ties would ulti­mately run accord­ing to its legal use and this is largely the con­di­tion for de-sealing.

For example, own­ers of the Ambawatta Com­plex, the high-end shop­ping com­plex — had given an under­tak­ing that it will be ulti­mately con­ver­ted into a res­id­en­tial area, upon which it got the per­mis­sion to de-seal.

Man­ager, Ambawatta Com­plex, Anil Kumar said: “The com­plex will be used for res­id­en­tial pur­poses by the own­ers. The con­struc­tion for that is being car­ried out. But if we get per­mis­sion to use it com­mer­cially after Decem­ber (when the Act expires), the shop­ping com­plex might well be back.”

Some out­lets on Mehrauli and MG Road — both of which come under urban vil­lage areas — have, how­ever, got per­mis­sion to carry on com­mer­cial activ­it­ies. Dir­ector, One Style Mile, San­jeev Batra told News­line: “As of now, we are glad the plot has been de-sealed. We shall keep tak­ing things as they come.”

One Style Mile was offi­cially de-sealed on May 22 this year and soon after, Ambawatta Com­plex was given the per­mis­sion to reopen on May 25. Sev­eral other prop­erty own­ers in the area too have begun apply­ing for per­mis­sion to de-seal under the Act.

After Decem­ber 31, 2009, it remains to be seen whether the gov­ern­ment extends it again or mod­i­fies Mas­ter Plan 2021.

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