The Supreme Court of India on 4th March, passed an order to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to vacate its headquarter-office on the land which belongs to the Rouse Avenue court. The deadline for the same has been given as 15th June by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The verdict declared that the political party has unlawfully occupied the premises since 2015 when it was allotted to the Delhi High Court.
The news came as a shocker to the Arvind Kejriwal led party, ahead of the election polls. However, it being a case of encroachment came along as a breather for AAP in the form of an extended deadline, in lieu of the Lok Sabha Elections.
What was the case all about?
On 13th February , the Court had observed a statement made by Advocate K Parameshwar (amicus curiae) that the plot earmarked for the Delhi Judiciary for an expansion project is under the occupation of a “political party”, which was AAP and has built their party office there. The expansion project of the Delhi High Court was to build additional court rooms for the Rose Avenue Court. Taking the matter into serious consideration, the Court stated that a specific timeline should be given to the party for the removal of the encroachment, which was till 15th June.
Following this order, a meeting was held on 15th February, where the Delhi state government had assured that the plot would be vacated in two months, provided an alternative plot was given. After this assurance, the matter did not move any further until the angry bench of judges questioned the lapse.
The party had subsequently informed the apex court that their office located at the Rouse Avenue court is not an encroachment since they were lawfully alloted the same, long before it was earmarked for judicial purposes. Later, they filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that the land was allotted to them by the Delhi Government in the year 2015 and it was only in the year 2020, that the land was earmarked by (L&DO) the Land and Development Office of the Government of India for judicial purposes.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that nobody can take the law into their own hands and expressed his dissatisfaction by saying, “How can any political party sit on it? All encroachments will be removed. The High Court should be given possession of the land, which can be used for the public and citizens.”
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, questioned as to why AAP has to be given an alternate land, “If they want to evacuate then let them evacuate. What is this condition?” Conversely, in reply to senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s ( appearing in favour of AAP ) statement of being entitled to the plot since they’re one of the six parties, the CJI sai, said, “You should not appear in this case, you cannot oppose the ground for Delhi High Court. You are using our good offices to get the plot. How can we allow this?” “After 2015, you are not lawful occupants of the land, and it cannot be denied”, he added.
The apex court allowed AAP to reach the Land and Development Office (L&DO) for allotment of new land and asked the L&DO as well to communicate their decision to AAP within four weeks. “We direct the Chief Secretary of the L&DO to come up with an alternate proposal and submit before the Rouse Avenue Courts, since it is in urgent need of space,” stated the court.
Aam Aadmi Party’s reply :
The party assured to cooperate and admitted that they understand the need of judicial infrastructure for the welfare of the citizens and has no objections about relocating to an appropriate space. However, they expressed their dissatisfaction by insisting that they haven’t received any explanation on why due diligence was not practiced by the L&DO on examining the status of the land and its vacancy. They even made requests for an alternative space in 2017 but wasn’t paid heed to.
In reply to the Supreme Court’s order, AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, “We respect the order of the Supreme Court. The court has also directed the land and development department of the central government to allot land to Aam Aadmi Party. We just hope that BJP does not do any regressive and negative politics and allot us the land in the same location as other national parties.”
3 Comments
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