Indian Express 17.06.2010
De-seal Metro mall shops: L-G
Geeta Gupta Tags : metro mall, corporation, sealing Posted: Thu Jun 17 2010, 02:26 hrs
Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna has directed immediate de-sealing of the seven commercial premises at Inderlok Metro station. The establishments were sealed on June 8 by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which claimed they were unauthorised.
At a high-level meeting chaired by the L-G on Tuesday to clear the stand-off between the MCD and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Khanna made it clear that any establishment, which is an integral part of a DMRC station, required no sanction from the MCD. The high-level meeting was attended by DMRC Managing Director Dr E Sreedharan and MCD Commissioner K S Mehra.
“The Lieutenant-Governor has ordered the immediate de-sealing of the commercial premises at the Inderlok Metro Station. DMRC can carry out property development activities as an alternative source of revenue so that Metro fares can be kept at subsidised levels,” Officer on Special Duty to the L-G, Ranjan Mukherjee, told Newsline. However, any commercial activity beyond the operational structure of DMRC would have to take all requisite permissions from the civic authorities, the L-G has ruled.
On June 8, the MCD had sealed commercial spaces at the Inderlok Metro Station, alleging that DMRC had constructed these premises without taking its sanction. The MCD had contended that such a sanction was required even if the DMRC had prior permission to carry out commercial activity from within the premises of their Metro stations. DMRC, on its part, maintained that it has been permitted to undertake such activities including leasing, concessions etc. without any restrictive condition as per the approval of the Group of Ministers and Ministry of Urban Development.
The DMRC-MCD battle over land use is almost four years old. The face-off started in 2006, when the MCD objected to the commercial development work carried out by DMRC at many stations and asked the latter to pay property tax to MCD for the commercial use of land.
The DMRC had at the time contended that it can carry out property development work citing the 2006 National Urban Policy report.
