Illegal eagles

The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Bill, 2006 — passed through an unanimous voice vote in Parliament late last week — has breached new levels of political cynicism. The Bill suspends for a year any demolitions of unauthorised buildings. According to the man who piloted the Bill, Urban Affairs Minister Jaipal Reddy, the government will use this year to finalise norms and strategies to deal with the problem of unauthorised constructions. Do not presume, he warns, that this Bill means “we will condone everything”. Instead he promises to use this period to lay down a list of punishable violations. This, of course, is ministerial casuistry at its most eloquent. In a year’s time Delhi will be closer to another election. To expect us to believe that the government will stand up to the illegalities of the powerful land mafia at that point — when it has abysmally failed to do so today — is to insult our powers of deduction.

Also notice the commitment politicians across the spectrum have demonstrated in getting this Bill passed. The “special consideration” awarded to it ensured both extraordinary speed and extraordinary consensus. But neither the speed of its enactment, nor the unanimity that marked the process, makes the Bill a commendable piece of legislation. There can be no getting away from the fact that this is a crass attempt at protecting criminal violations in order to make technically legal what is blatantly illegal. It is just not acceptable; just as a law legalising murder cannot be condoned even if there was a political consensus behind it.

This is not the first time that Delhi has been held to ransom. The Delhi Rent Control Act, first introduced in the mid-nineties, and enacted primarily to balance the interests of landlords and tenants, was rendered dead in the water — after being passed by both Houses of Parliament — thanks to the unremitting and violent agitation of local traders who gained immensely from their occupation of property not their own. The political minders of the Capital could not ensure that justice was done then. Now they have provided us with further evidence of their inability to uphold the principles of law and sound city planning by passing the strangely — and ironically — entitled Delhi Laws Bill.