Delhi High Court
Sharad Vashisht General Secretary W One ... vs Government Of Nct Of Delhi Through Its ... on 4 December, 2023
$~53
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 15543/2023 & CM APPL. 62265/2023
SHARAD VASHISHT GENERAL SECRETARY W ONE DESU
ROAD MEHRAULI ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Saurabh Sharma, Advocate.
versus
GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI THROUGH ITS CHIEF
SECRETARY & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Santosh Kumar Tripathi,
Standing counsel for GNCTD with
Mr. Arun Panwar, Mr. Pradyumn
Rao, Mr. Utkarsh Singh, Mr. Kartik
Sharma, Ms. Prashansa Sharma, Mr.
Rishabh Srivastava, Advocates for R-
1,2,4
Ms. Manika Tripathy, SC for DDA
with Mr. Rony John, Advocate
Ms. Beenashaw N. Soni, SC-MCD
with Ms. Ann Joseph, Advocate for
R-3
ASI Devender Singh, Parvi Officer
% Date of Decision: 04th December, 2023
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MINI PUSHKARNA
JUDGMENT
1. The present Public Interest Litigation ("PIL") has been filed with the
following prayers:
"i. Direct the Respondent No. 1 to 3 to take immediate action and
steps to manage the traffic and clear the Kalka Dass Marg for
easy ingress and outgress of vehicles and residents of Mehrauli;
and
ii. Direct the Respondent No. 1 to 3 to take immediate action
against the Respondent No. 7 to 22 for plying their
Restaurant/Pubs/Bar business in non-conformity to Regulations
regarding parking facility as codified in Gazette Notification No.
160/Joint CP/Licensing (EDP) Dated 08.04.2023, Ministry of Home
Affairs has notified regulations for „„Registration and Controlling of
the Eating Houses in the National Capital Territory of Delhi; and
iii. Direct the Respondent No. 7 to 22 to not to create noise
pollution by playing music/speakers on high volumes beyond
permissible limits so that they does not cause any disturbance or
threat to peace and tranquility of the area and around it, as codified
in Gazette Notification No. 160/Joint CP/Licensing (EDP) Dated
08.04.2023, Ministry of Home Affairs has notified regulations for
"Registration and Controlling of the Eating Houses in the National
Capital Territory of Delhi; and
iv. Direct the Respondent No. 1 to 5 to check and confirm that no
noise pollution is created by Respondent No. 7 to 22, in Mehrauli and
no music is played beyond permissible hours as per codified
Regulations issued by Delhi Police as well as Govt. of NCT of Delhi
and in conformity to Gazette Notification No. 160/Joint CP/Licensing
(EDP) Dated 08.04.2023, Ministry of Home Affairs has notified
regulations for "Registration and Controlling of the Eating Houses
in the National Capital Territory of Delhi; and
v. Direct the Respondent No. 6 to ensure proper implementation of
rules and guidelines of „The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological
Sites and Remains Rules, 1959‟ and other applicable Acts and Rules
for protecting Qutub Minar and save it from damage and misuse for
commercial purposes;
vi. Direct the Respondent No. 4 to take immediate action against
the Respondent No. 7 to 22 and other pubs/bars/eateries in Mehrauli
who are serving liquor without license and/or not following the excise
guidelines issued by Govt. of NCT of Delhi; and
vii. Pass such other order(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in
the fact and circumstances of the present case."
2. The petitioner, who is a resident of Mehrauli, New Delhi has raised
various issues which concern the residents of Mehrauli, in view of the
numerous restaurants/pubs that are running on Kalka Das Marg, behind
Qutub Minar, Mehrauli, New Delhi - 110030. It is the case of the petitioner
that there is high footfall in the restaurants/bars run by respondent nos. 7 to
22 especially in the evening time, which continues till wee hours of
morning. It is submitted that apart from few small parking spaces, there are
no parking spaces in the area in question, due to which the vehicles of all the
visitors are parked on road sides. This leads to huge traffic jams, due to
which sometimes it takes two hours to cover a stretch of 500 metres for the
petitioner and other residents of Mehrauli, to reach their houses/work places.
3. It is further pointed out that besides the problem of traffic jam, the
respondent nos. 7 to 22 play music at high volume from evening till late
hours in the night, which disturbs the petitioner and other residents, students,
sick and old aged inhabitants of the area. The respondent nos. 7 to 22 have
open rooftops to serve their customers and the music on these rooftops is
played so loud and played till late hours in the night, that the residents of
entire Mehruali are affected by the same.
4. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing on behalf of
respondents submit that the area in question, where the restaurants are
existing, is a commercial area and that the said restaurants are being
operated after obtaining requisite licenses. However, they submit that they
are committed to comply with any directions passed by this Court with
regard to the grievances raised by the petitioner.
5. Having heard learned counsel for the parties, this Court directs the
petitioner to file separate representations with the Delhi Police and the
Municipal Corporation of Delhi ("MCD") respectively, raising all his
grievances. The grievance of the petitioner regarding high decibel music in
the said restaurants till late night and the said restaurants are running without
license, shall be looked into by the Delhi Police. The grievance of the
petitioner regarding traffic jam and lack of adequate parking spaces in the
area in question shall be looked into by the Traffic Police and the MCD. The
petitioner is granted liberty to file the respective representations within two
weeks raising all his grievances. The representation of the petitioner shall be
decided by the respective bodies within four weeks of receipt of such
representation. At the time of deciding the representation of the petitioner,
the MCD may also explore the possibility of developing parking spaces in
the vicinity of the area in order to tackle the problem of traffic jam in the
area.
6. The present PIL is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
MINI PUSHKARNA, J
DECEMBER 4, 2023
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