According to PTI The Supreme Court Wednesday issued a contempt notice to Delhi BJP chief and actor Manoj Tiwari for allegedly breaking the lock of a house sealed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) in Gokulpur.
The apex court reviewed the report by the monitoring committee and directed Manoj Tiwari to appear before it on September 25.
A bench including justices Madan B Lokur,Deepak Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer directed the BJP MP to appear before it on 25 September and remarked that it was "unfortunate" that an elected representative had tried to defy the orders of the apex court.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari was involved in theatrics by trying to break the locks of houses sealed by the municipal corporation ruled by his party.
The party alleged the BJP was misleading traders by displaying “fake concern” ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, guiding the court as an "amicus curiae" (an impartial adviser to a court of law in a particular case) regarding the matter, placed the committee report before the bench and informed a video of the alleged incident was also affixed with it.
The Delhi Police had registered a case against Tiwari after East Delhi Municipal Corporation EDMC filed a complaint, referring news reports that said the northeast Delhi MP Sunday tampered with the seal of a dairy that was shut down due to illegal run. The EDMC said the premises of the house were being used as a “dairy facility”, and was allegedly operating violating the norms of Delhi Master Plan. Earlier in the day a case against Tiwari was registered under IPC Section 188.
In spite of the fact that an FIR has been filed, Manoj Tiwari returned to Gokulpuri village on Tuesday, with the intention of breaking the seal, accompanied by the party workers and locals. However, the municipal administration stopped him as heavy police force was present at the time.
Tiwari in his defence said the sealing at the Gokulpuri property was executed illegally. He said, “There were people living there, and the officials sealed it on the pretext of a dairy being run there.”
According to Dilip Pandey, AAP leader, said, “If the BJP was so concerned about traders, why did they not prevent sealing by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi? The BJP is ruling the Centre and they can bring an ordinance and stop sealing. Either way, the BJP can stop it. We want to tell them that Delhi’s citizens are not foolish. They know who is supervising the sealing and who can stop it.”
The SC had previously taken a harsh step against attempts by anyone to interfere in the work of the Monitoring Committee, which has been mandated by the Apex Court to carry out the sealing of illegal and unauthorized constructions in the national capital.