On 13th February (Tuesday), the Supreme Court slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) when it was informed that the party had ‘encroached’ on the land in Delhi that was allocated for the Delhi High Court. The court expressed displeasure that the AAP political office, located at Rouse Avenue in Delhi, was built over encroached land. The Court subsequently ordered that all encroachments on the land must be removed.
CJI expresses shock at how @AamAadmiParty set up its head office on land that was allotted for the Delhi High Court.
Court says all "encroachments" on the land must be removed. "No one can take law into their own hands! Land must be given to the HC" says CJI. pic.twitter.com/NdnJuGtoPz
— Law Today (@LawTodayLive) February 13, 2024
Notably, the Court took notice of the issue when it was dealing with a case related to judicial infrastructure across the country. The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing the matter.
During today’s court hearing, Amicus Curiae K Parameshwar informed the bench that even though Delhi High Court officials went to take possession of certain land allotted to them, “a political party office was built there” and they could not take the land back. He, however, did not expressly mention the name of the political party and clarified that he did not want to politicise the issue.
The Law Secretary to the Delhi Government, Bharat Parashar was present online before the court. He informed the bench that the “political party” was allotted the land by way of a cabinet resolution in 2016.
Parashar added that now the matter has been informed to the Land and Development Officer (L&DO) and the process to allot another land to the political party is underway. Before 2016, the said land was a bungalow that was occupied by a minister and it was later occupied by the political party, the Law Secretary added.
The CJI, who appeared to be annoyed after learning about the encroachment, warned the counsel representing the AAP-led Delhi government that the land must be returned to the High Court. CJI Chandrachud remarked, “No one can take law into their own hands … How can a political party sit tight on that?”
The Delhi government was represented by Senior Advocate Wasim Qadri and Additional Solicitor General of India Vikramjit Banerjee.
Asking the Delhi government’s counsel about the timeline, the CJI said, “Mr.Qadri and Mr.Vikramjit Banerjee, you better find out and tell us tomorrow when is the possession being given back to the High Court. What is this? We are not asking for judges’ bungalow or something…we are asking for public amenities. And a political party is sitting tight on that! Why did you allot it to the High Court then? Tell us when are you going to give unencumbered possession to the High Court. This has to come to an end. The High Court is going to use it for the citizens and the residents of Delhi. Tell us what you are doing”.
Subsequently, the Court directed the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary of the Delhi government, and Secretary to the Delhi Public Works Department to convene a meeting with the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court to ensure that encroachments are removed. According to the court’s direction, the meeting is to be held before the next date of hearing in the matter before the top court.
In a previous hearing, the Supreme Court criticised the Delhi government for its negligent approach to allocating funds for infrastructure in the Delhi district judiciary. At that time, the Chief Justice of India noted that as of March 2021, approvals had been given for three out of four projects, yet the funds for these projects had not been disbursed.