Court-martial

When the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Bill, 2006, became the law of the land in May, these columns had noted that it is unlikely that the country has heard the last of this strange piece of legislation. Sure enough, the law — which was supported by an unprecedented political consensus and was passed hurriedly by a voice vote towards the end of the last Parliament session — has come back to deeply embarrass the legislature. The apex court may have desisted from staying the law altogether but it could not have been clearer about its lack of legal foundation. It also underlined the bad faith attached to it, given that it was — in the apex court’s opinion — passed expressly to overrule court orders demanding the demolishing of illegal constructions in Delhi, regardless of who owned them.

It is hoped that the legislature now displays the sagacity to respond to the Supreme Court’s misgivings and gracefully withdraw the law should it fail to convince the Supreme Court about its validity. Apart from this it has, in fact, few options. If it is at all inclined to rescue the law by including it in the Ninth Schedule, that temptation must be resisted forthwith. Such a move would amount to lending a completely misplaced sanctity to what is essentially a cynical piece of legislation. According to constitutional prescriptions, the Ninth Schedule is meant for the protection of laws giving effect to Directive Principles. The right to construct illegal buildings does not, as far as we know, figure in the list of Directive Principles and we can only hope that our political class does not attempt to move that goalpost.

The moment the law came into force, every pretense of checking the proliferation of illegal constructions in Delhi was given up altogether. Even those that came up after 2006, and did not attract the protection of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, seem to have been spared the attentions of the demolition squad and although the Municipal Corporation of Delhi continues to receive numerous complaints, there is little or no action taken. This deliberate laxity may gratify the builder mafia and their political supporters, but it only provides one more reason why ordinary citizens desperately need the courts in this battle. A crucial battle to protect Delhi from the machinations of powerful lobbies prepared to break any law — or pass any law — in order to profit from its real estate.