NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has refused to stay the demolition of kiosks near the Namo Bharat Metro Rail Station in Sarai Kale Khan, observing that the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) line was a “crucial infrastructure project” that could not be impeded.
Stretching over 82 kilometres, the high-speed corridor is expected to cut travel time between Delhi and Meerut to under an hour. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta, in a judgment passed on May 8, ruled that the kiosks stood in the way of the project. It noted that the “tehbazari” certificates—temporary permits issued by civic authorities for operating stalls in designated public areas—had been granted in January 2018 and carried no permanence.
“The development work is being carried out in the vicinity of the shop itself and in fact, the kiosks of the petitioners would be coming in the way of the development. The RRTS line is a crucial infrastructure project, which is being undertaken by NCRTC (National Capital Region Transport Corporation),” said the court.
The judges made it clear that the stall owners could not insist on remaining in the area, given the overriding public interest. “Considering the fact that the tehbazari itself is temporary and the RRTS project is a project in public interest, the petitioners cannot be seen to argue that they cannot be dispossessed,” the bench held, while directing the kiosk owners to remove their belongings. The court was hearing a petition filed by two stallholders seeking a halt to the demolition activity at the tehbazari site on Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Sahib Marg, Sarai Kale Khan.
The petitioners said the plea was filed on behalf of all tehbazari stall occupiers who had been allotted sites by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
They claimed the demolition began on May 6, leaving them only two days to clear out their stalls, without prior notice. The act, they argued, violated the principles of natural justice.
In response, the MCD’s counsel reiterated the temporary nature of the tehbazari certificates. Counsel for the NCRTC, meanwhile, told the court that the redevelopment of the Namo Bharat Metro Rail Station was part of the broader RRTS corridor, being constructed in accordance with SC directions.