‘If you are diligent and vigilant, none of this would happen': Delhi court pulls up MCD, police over traffic jam outside premises
'If you will be diligent and vigilant, none of this will happen…You are dutybound to take action…if you are taking action, it is not sufficient,' Civil Judge Rinku Jain of Tis Hazari court said.
'What are you doing when there is a violation? Why does the status report not mention the number of challans you have issued? You have not mentioned properly what action has been taken,' the judge added.
Advocate Devender Dhiryan, whose chamber is in Tis Hazari, had moved the petition before the court alleging that 'illegal encroachments, traffic congestion and unregulated activities' had proliferated in a 1 km radius of Tis Hazari courts and surrounding areas.
The court had on earlier occasions asked the authorities to submit detailed reports highlighting the steps being taken to deal with the congestion.
'I cross Tis Hazari twice. There are fewer mobile vendors and a lot more stationary vendors… one big problem is that people stop their cars on the road to buy stuff. This causes jams,'' Judge Jain said.
'Those who are sitting permanently, what action has been taken against them? What is the area allotted to tehbazari [licence] holders and the area they are actually occupying… have they expanded it to two or three times? I am just asking them to check that,' the court added, directing the authorities to file a fresh status report.
'The report filed on behalf of MCD is not in terms with the previous order dt. 02.06.2025. The report has not mentioned if the area actually occupied by the tehbazari holders around Tis Hazari Courts…counsel for defendant no.1 undertakes to file fresh report in terms of order dt. 02.06.2025,' the judge said in his order, listing the matter for August 25.
Judge Jain also told the authorities that while he will not be passing directions, they were dutybound to take action. 'You cannot turn a blind eye saying there is no direction from the court,' he said.
A status report submitted by the MCD this month stated that no mobile vendors were permanently stationed in the area and that the 'MCD keeps taking action against the Tehbazari holders who encroach beyond allotted size and also against vendors who violate the terms & conditions of Certificate of Vending'.
This answer was unsatisfactory to the court, and it directed the authorities to tell them how much area the licence holders (or vendors) were occupying and if this was multiple times bigger than what was allotted to them.
In an earlier status report dated March 26, 2025, the civic body had stated that there were 198 vendors with a licence around the court complex. Other vendors, it had told the court, had a certificate which allowed them to vend at a particular place for up to 30 minutes.
Another report submitted earlier by Sub-Inspector K L Kuldeep from Kashmiri Gate Police station stated that 20 heavy vehicles had been impounded and 30 challans imposed on them in 2024 in the surrounding areas. It had also said that 1,963 challans had been imposed for improper parking and 1,700 challans for permit violations. This report stated that in 2024, 830 vehicles had been seized by the police station. Under Section 285 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 852 First Information Reports (FIRs) were lodged at the police station last year, stated this report.
Along with the MCD and the station house officer of Kashmiri Gate Police station, another status report was submitted in court in March by the traffic inspector, Civil Lines Circle, Delhi. This report had mentioned that 31 traffic personnel had been deployed in two shifts to mitigate the vehicular congestion around Tis Hazari Court. The report also mentioned that from January 1 to March 24 this year, 5,946 challans had been imposed. For improper parking, the report had stated, 995 challans had been imposed. Another 1,005 had been imposed for 'no entry violations', it added. Along with this, 154 vehicles had been impounded, as per the report.
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Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
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A pristine white bungalow, four flashy sedans with blue and white diplomatic number plates parked in the driveway, national flags from across the world and a man posing as an 'ambassador'. When Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF) raided the 'Embassy of Westarctica' in Ghaziabad's upscale Kavi Nagar neighbourhood earlier this week, they came across an elaborate con job. Far from an an ordinary swindler, Harsh Vardhan Jain, the accused, had been running a fake embassy of a country that doesn't exist, without raising any suspicion for the last nine years. Jain had planned every detail meticulously to build this façade, according to the police. He had allegedly printed fake press cards, doctored photos with top dignitaries and even 'purchased' honorary titles from self-proclaimed micronations. The preliminary investigation, police say, has revealed that Jain was running a multi-nation scam. How did Jain manage to execute such a fraud, undetected for years, right beneath the vigilant gaze of the local Ghaziabad Police is yet to be revealed. How Jain's fake embassy operation was finally exposed is also unknown. According to the UPSTF, Jain is a Ghaziabad-born MBA graduate who claims to have studied in London. His father, JD Jain, was a once reputed industrialist, with marble export businesses operating in Rajasthan. In the early 2000s, Jain reportedly came in contact with self-styled godman Chandraswami, who allegedly introduced him to arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and Ehsan Ali Syed, another conman posing as a businessman who was convicted in a fraud case in Switzerland. With their help, Jain is said to have established more than a dozen companies in Dubai, London, and Mauritius — many of them shell firms used to collect 'brokerage' for jobs and promises of huge loans before duping them. 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The Print
7 hours ago
- The Print
Micronation drama unfolds, Westarctica's ‘grand duke' suspends Ghaziabad man as ‘representative'
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Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Indian Express
Verification drive: 4 holding centres emptied in Gurgaon, cops to restrict detentions to confirmed foreign nationals
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