NEW DELHI: Making it clear to Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari that he is not above law and cannot be allowed to take law in his hand just because of being a Member of Parliament, the Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled him up for allegedly defying its order on sealing drive and directed him to file affidavit within a week explaining his conduct.Tiwari is facing contempt charge for interfering in SC-monitored sealing drive by breaking the lock of a house in northeast Delhi which was sealed by monitoring committee. The court had issued contempt notice to him and directed him to personally appear before it after committee filed a report seeking stringent action against BJP him for violating court’s order. It also placed CD containing videography of the incident.As soon as the matter was called for hearing, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Tiwari, started lashing out at monitoring committee for not taking action against all illegal and unauthorised construction in the city. He said that the committee was selectively taking action and the sealing drive is being done for getting publicity.A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur , S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, however, asked the lawyer whether he had seen the video in which Tiwari had claimed that there were more than thousand unauthorised buildings in the city which were not being sealed. Singh replied that he had not seen the video and continued criticising the committee.“Being an MP does not mean that he has license to do whatever he wants. We are requesting you to first see the CD. You do not have to get agitated just because he (Tiwari) is here,” the bench said.The bench also asked the BJP leader, “ Mr Tiwari, in your CD, you say there are more than thousand places which should be sealed. Give us a list of these places. We will make you the sealing officer.” The BJP leader, however, preferred to remain silent and the firefighting to protect him from contempt proceedings was done by his lawyer.The bench, thereafter, directed him to file affidavit giving explanation for his alleged unlawful conduct and why contempt proceedings be not initiated against him.The monitoring committee, comprising former advisor to Election Commission K J Rao, Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) chairman Bhure Lal and Major General Som Jhingan, said in its report that members of political parties and others are intentionally and deliberately violating the court’s order not to interfere in the sealing drive against illegal and unauthorised construction in the city. It said that court should act tough against such person to ensure that court’s order is not violated.“The monitoring committee requests this court to pass stringent directions including initiation of contempt proceedings against Manoj Tiwari, MP for seal tampering so that sealing operations may continue uninterrupted as per the direction of this court,” the report said.The court had earlier said that it was unfortunate that an elected representative of people was resorting to such practice amounting to violation of law and contempt of court. The apex court has time and again asked the political leaders to refrain from interfering in the sealing drive and warned them not to politicise the issue. Sending a stern message that any attempt to disrupt sealing drive by the court-appointed committee would not be tolerated, the court had earlier issued contempt notice to Shahdara MLA OP Sharma and municipal councillor Gunjan Gupta for preventing the panel for taking action against unauthorised constructions in Delhi but the two were let off after they tendered unconditional apology.<doc-sep>Manoj Tiwari (in blue) appears in Supreme Court on Tuesday (Photo: Prem Nath Pandey) Manoj Tiwari (in blue) appears in Supreme Court on Tuesday (Photo: Prem Nath Pandey) The Supreme Court Tuesday directed Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari to file an affidavit within a week in connection with a case against him for breaking the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) in Gokulpur, PTI reported. The apex court told the Delhi BJP chief that being an MP does not give him liberty to take the law in his hands. “Mr Tiwari, in your CD, you say there are one thousand places which deserve to be sealed. Give us a list of these places. We will make you the sealing officer,” said the bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur. The court expressed anguish against his statement in which he had alleged that the monitoring committee was not sealing thousands of illegal buildings and directed him to file an affidavit within a week. The court directed Tiwari to explain his claims that he made regarding sealings in Delhi to a news channel, PTI reported. Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Tiwari, said that no seal was broken by the BJP leader and he himself being an MP has not ever disrupted the sealing process, PTI reported. Singh told the court that he needed time to file a detailed reply in the matter. “We are asking you, have you seen the CD? In the CD he says there are thousand places which deserve to be sealed. He a member of the Parliament. That does not give him liberty to take law in his hands,” the court said. The Delhi Police had registered a case against Tiwari after EDMC filed a complaint, citing news reports that the northeast Delhi MP had tampered with the seal of a dairy that was shut down for running illegally. It was allegedly operating in violation of the Delhi Master Plan, the EDMC said. The apex court had issued a contempt notice to Tiwari last week in this regard and directed him to appear before it today. Tiwari was directed to appear in the court on October 3 again for the next hearing in the case.<doc-sep>Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, who broke the sealed lock of a house in east Delhi, has been told to come up with a list of 1,000 unauthorised properties in the national capital by tomorrow. Tiwari had earlier justified breaking the sealed lock, questioning why only one house was sealed by officials if there were 1,000 houses. “I oppose this pick and choose system so I broke the sealed lock,” he said on 16 September, according to news agency ANI. The top court took note of this statement and initially told him to come up with the list by tomorrow. “You claimed in your TV interview there are 1000 unauthorized properties that should be sealed. Give us a list by tomorrow morning and we will give u the authority to seal. Go and seal. We will make you the sealing officer,” a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court that is hearing a contempt of court case against the Delhi politician said in its oral observations. In its written order later, the court gave Tiwari a week to file his affidavit. Tiwari had broken the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation in northeast Delhi’s Gokulpur. A police case was filed against him. The property in question had been sealed by the EDMC for allegedly running an illegal dairy from the premises. Following the FIR, the monitoring committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to identify and seal buildings that violate land use norms, submitted a report in the top court about the incident. After perusing the report of the monitoring committee, the bench had at an earlier hearing observed that it reflected a “disturbing state of affairs” and described it as “unfortunate” that an elected representative had tried to defy the orders of the top court.<doc-sep>The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party President Manoj Tiwari to file an affidavit within a week and explain his conduct after he allegedly broke the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation in an unauthorised colony in Delhi, reported PTI. Last week, the Supreme Court issued him a contempt notice after taking cognisance of a report submitted by a monitoring committee. Tiwari will next appear before the court on October 3. The Delhi Police on September 18 filed a First Information Report against Tiwari on charges of disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant and for allegedly violating provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. Tiwari, who broke open the seal two days earlier, had asked why authorities had closed only one house in the lane and accused them of sealing properties according to their “whims and fancies”. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the sealing and demolition of unauthorised constructions in Delhi would continue. A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta on Tuesday asked Tiwari to explain his comments that the authorities were doing nothing to seal thousand of illegal structures that deserved to be sealed. “You give us a list of those places, we’ll make you the sealing officer,” said Justice Lokur. The bench said that being an MP did not give Tiwari the liberty to take law in his hands. Tiwari did not break a seal and as an MP has never disrupted the sealing process, said senior lawyer Vikas Singh, appearing on behalf of Tiwari. Singh said that he would need time to file a detailed reply.<doc-sep>
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday took strong exception to BJP Delhi chief and MP Manoj Tiwari for allegedly violating its directions on the sealing of illegal structures in the national capital, and said that being an MP does not give him liberty to take the law in his hands. Tiwari was present before the court in pursuance to the contempt notice issued to him for allegedly breaking the seal of a premises which was being run in violation of the Delhi Master Plan. The apex court expressed its anguish against his statement in which he had said that the monitoring committee was not sealing thousands of illegal structures and directed him to file an affidavit within a week. A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur asked the BJP leader to explain his claims made to a news channel related to the Delhi sealing matter. "Mr Tiwari, in your CD, you say there are one thousand places which deserve to be sealed. Give us a list of these places. We will make you the sealing officer," said the bench, also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta. Tiwari, who is an MP from northeast Delhi constituency has an FIR against him by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation for allegedly breaking the seal of a premises in Gokalpuri area in north-east Delhi. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Tiwari, said that no seal was broken by the BJP leader and he himself being an MP has not ever disrupted the sealing process. The lawyer said he needed time to file a detailed reply in the matter. "We are asking you, have you seen the CD? In the CD he says there are thousand places which deserve to be sealed. He a member of the Parliament. That does not give him liberty to take law in his hands," the court said. The court directed Tiwari to appear on October 3 when it will next hear the matter.