The Delhi High Court has asked fruit and vegetable sellers to vacate a land belonging to the Delhi Jal Board in Najafgarh here to make way for the construction of a water treatment plant.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Sachin Datta in a recent order said, “The said water treatment plant is essential to serve a very large part of Delhi and would benefit about 15 lakh residents.”
The upcoming plant will have a capacity of 50 million gallons per day (MGD).
“Clearly, public interest at large would suffer if construction of the proposed water treatment plant is impeded in any way,” the Bench said while asking the fruit and vegetable sellers to “voluntarily vacate the area” or face coercive steps.
The fruit and vegetable sellers’ association had said that its members are facilitating the trade of fruits and vegetables to the tune of about 3,000 tons a day. The association argued that without an alternate arrangement for the present Najafgarh Mandi, Delhi would see a scarcity of fruits and vegetables and rise in the price of these commodities.
Addressing water shortage
The DJB, on the other hand, argued that the water treatment plant would provide relief to the residents of Dwarka sub-City, Najafgarh, Uttam Nagar, Sagarpur, Rajokari and Bijwasan by addressing water shortage in these areas.
The DJB said the land belongs to it and since it is required for a public project, the members of the association have no vested right to continue occupying the land for their wholesale trade.
The High Court also took note of the fact that the plant’s construction work has begun and is being done at a fast pace. “The completion of the project cannot brook any delay and for that reason, the interim order which is coming in the way of Delhi Jal Board in undertaking further works cannot be allowed to continue. Moreover, the appellants have no vested right to occupy the land in question,” the High Court said.
In September last year, the HC had issued an interim order where it asked the DJB to put the vacating of the premises on hold till further orders.
It further directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi to schedule a meeting with the association and all other authorities concerned to resolve the issues raised by the fruit and vegetable sellers.
