SC summons officials of Delhi civic bodies on sealing issue
New Delhi, July 11: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought presence of Deputy Commissioners of Delhi's South, West and Central zones for not complying with its order to seal unauthorised constructions.
A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta also summoned chairman of Special Task Force (STF), constituted to monitor issues relating to unauthorised constructions in Delhi, to appear before it on July 18.
The monitoring committee - mandated to identify and seal unauthorised structures in the national capital - alleged non cooperation by the civic agencies in a report filed before the bench.
The bench while perusing the report, took into note a media report submitted by the committee, as per which Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had rapped the officials for carrying out the drive without using "common sense".
"You (government) have no intention to work, which even the monitoring committee has informed. Your minister said that the monitoring committee had no common sense in sealing the properties. Monitoring committee was constituted by us, that means the court has no sense as per you," said the bench.
"We do not have common sense. We do not know how to work. Please ask him where should we get common sense. Is it available in the market? Ask him so that we can get some common sense also," Justice Lokur told Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni, who was appearing for the Centre.
"We are being told that we lack common sense. If something is there in the newspapers, you say it is false. That is why we do not have common sense.
"See how your department is making hurdles in the working of the committee," said the anguished bench.
The report said that pubs and dancing clubs are working in illegal properties and the SDMC has not taken any action, added the bench.
The court was earlier told that the municipal bodies was refusing to carry out the directions of the committee on the grounds that the amendments to the Master Plan-2021 were yet to be finalised.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
