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Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Look, MCD Has Work Cut Out At Gumti
New Delhi: Even after the Supreme Court's Thursday deadline to clear the environs at the Gumti of Shaikh Ali at Defence Colony, a visit in the afternoon revealed the truth of what the court described as a 'warzone'. T he surface of the park in front of the 700-year-old Lodhi-era monument was a patchwork of disparity: some spots had green grass, others were just dry and bald cracked mud. In a corner, a fallen signboard tried dismally to stay relevant. It once proudly declared that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had created this park for children's play and recreation. But that promise seemed long broken — quite literally. The play area resembled a graveyard of rusted remains with a broken slide slumped on its side and round swing frames rusting quietly. In another corner, scattered alcohol bottles lay strewn in the grass, indicating what happens in the park after sundown. The benches, too, were broken, splintered at the edges, daring anyone to sit on them. The trees appeared to have once been part of a nursery, but now many were uprooted or had dried away. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like After 35 Years, Her Jewelry Is Nearly Gone The Heritage Journal Read More Undo Overall, where there should have been a luxuriant green space around a monument, there was a dull, lifeless sprawl. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi Amid this mess stood the office of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Jal Board , the one the Supreme Court had ordered to vacate. Its gate was shut, but peering in, the clutter was visible, with broken compartments and an overwhelming sense that the place was either ransacked or hastily abandoned. The adjacent temple remained active, but the surrounding area appeared stripped, like a property that had just witnessed a theft. There were remains of broken cars there, too. This was when the Supreme Court made it clear on Wednesday that Delhi govt was to notify the Gumti of Shaikh Ali as a protected monument and slammed the municipal corporation for "abandoning this place like a child thrown into the dustbin". By Thursday afternoon, there was no clean-up. No restoration. No sign of improvement. When contacted today, MCD officials did not offer a comment. But for now, the site stands as it was the previous day, held in a freeze-frame of decay and disrepair. What could be reclaimed as a slice of Delhi's history remained a forgotten ruin with a court order hanging over its head. However, local people were seen working on the restoration of the monument. Area resident and environmentalist Bhavreen Kandhari railed, "That a public monument needed the Supreme Court to force basic maintenance speaks volumes about the collapse of official accountability. Garbage and rubble and theft of the iron by scrap sellers is not just administrative indifference, but institutional arrogance. After all, it's all our public money that's being wasted in damaging and then rebuilding the structure. " She added that waiting for 'formal orders' to clean a historic site was a poor excuse for MCD. "Running city-wide campaigns on tree planting but ripping off a nursery during the monsoons with no thought and plan shows an alarming lack of conscience," said Kandhari.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
SC directs Delhi government to reissue notification declaring Lodhi-era ‘Gumti of Shaikh Ali' a protected monument
NEW DELHI: In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government to issue a fresh notification declaring the historic Lodhi-era monument "Gumti of Shaikh Ali" as a protected monument under the law. The two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, passed the direction while hearing an appeal filed by Defence Colony resident Rajeev Suri. Suri had sought the court's intervention to declare the Gumti a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act), after the Delhi High Court dismissed his petition. During the hearing, the bench examined a report submitted by the Delhi government, which included a previously issued notification. However, the court observed that the notification was not 'happily worded' and thus required reissuance. 'Let the notification (to declare the monument as a protected one under the law) be re-issued by the Delhi government,' the bench directed.
Hindustan Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
SC slams MCD over office near 700-yr-old structure, orders to vacate in 48 hours
The Supreme Court on Wednesday reprimanded the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for continuing to operate an office near a 700-year-old Lodhi-era monument in Defence Colony, despite earlier directions to vacate the area. The court granted the civic body 48 hours to clear the site 'lock, stock, and barrel'. The monument in question—Gumti of Shaikh Ali—sits at the centre of a roundabout near the Defence Colony market. Earlier this year, the apex court had come down heavily on the Defence Colony Resident Welfare Association (RWA), ordering it to vacate the structure after decades of illegal occupation, and directed its restoration. On Wednesday, the bench led by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia expressed strong disapproval of MCD's claim that its office, located 'adjacent' to the monument, was 'strategically situated' to carry out emergency operations in South Delhi. 'What kind of MCD are you?' the bench asked. 'Do you not know that no construction is allowed within 200 metres of a heritage monument? If you continue in this place, we will haul your commissioner for contempt.' Senior advocate Garima Parshad, representing MCD, argued that the restriction only applied to new constructions and not existing ones. Her argument was backed by the Delhi government's Land and Development Office (L&DO), which maintained the structure was 'safe' after the RWA's removal. The court, however, was unconvinced and ordered MCD to vacate the area entirely and hand over any keys to L&DO. The matter will be heard again on Friday to ensure compliance. The dispute over the monument began in January when the court directed the Defence Colony RWA to vacate the structure and pay ₹40 lakh to the Delhi government's archaeology department as compensation for occupying it since the 1960s. The department was tasked with restoring the structure. On Wednesday, the RWA informed the court that the compensation amount had been deposited. The archaeology department confirmed the same and told the court that the process to declare the monument as a protected site was underway. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appointed by the court to oversee compliance, informed the bench that MCD was not only operating an office near the monument but also using the surrounding area to dump construction debris. Trucks operated by the civic agency frequently used the space, he said. He also noted that a well-maintained park nearby remained locked and inaccessible to residents. Refuting MCD's justification that it needed the space for emergency services, Sankaranarayanan said the civic body had other offices in close proximity. 'Can this building function as an office? Can you not identify any other place?' the court asked after examining photographs of the site. The proceedings originated from a petition filed by Defence Colony resident Rajeev Suri, who sought to have the Gumti declared a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act). Suri approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea in February 2019. The court had earlier involved the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into how the RWA came to occupy the structure in the 1960s. The CBI found no legal basis for the occupation. According to its report, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had issued a notification in 2004 to declare the structure protected, but dropped the plan after objections from the RWA. CBI cited ASI records in which a superintending archaeologist had written to the director general, noting that the monument had undergone several alterations under the RWA's occupation, making it difficult to restore. In 2008, the central government officially abandoned the proposal to protect the structure. Historical records back the monument's significance. The Gumti is mentioned in the Survey of Monuments of Delhi, conducted in the 1920s by Maulvi Zafar Hasan and published by ASI in 1926. It also features in a 1999 publication by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which describes it as an octagonal tomb with pointed arches, a domed superstructure, and an inverted lotus atop the dome. Only one of the arches remains open, while the rest have been bricked up.
