New Delhi: Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday said that a court-appointed panel has ordered to de-seal around 392 shops in Lajpat Nagar part-IV sealed in 2018 for violation of norms.
The shop owners are required to give an undertaking as a supplement lease deed and pay a penalty, among other formalities, to get their shops de-sealed.
"Any penalty or misuse charge will have to be paid. If there are any other outstanding charges including some conversion charges and parking charges, they will have to be paid. A structural stability certificate will also have to be submitted to MCD. After all this is cleared, these shops will be de-sealed," an official release said.
The decision stands to give relief to around 400 traders and 20,000 residents of Delhi whose lives are dependent on these shops, leader of the House Mukesh Goyal said.
In a press conference, the mayor described the move as a "Diwali gift" to the affected traders.
"While giving a Diwali gift, the monitoring committee has ordered to de-seal all these shops. This is a huge relief for traders and shop owners who were battling for years to get their shops opened," she said.
In 2018, 392 shops were sealed at the instance of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee, she said.
The garment shops were located in the Lajpat Nagar-IV area and were sealed for carrying out commercial activity in a residential area, the mayor said.
Now, after years of their struggle, the "monitoring committee has taken a decision to deseal" these shops, she told reporters, calling the move "praiseworthy." Oberoi said the traders will have to submit an undertaking and a few other documents to start the de-sealing process.
"A supplementary lease deed which is executed by the L&DO, will have to be submitted, as also penalties and misuse charges to be paid to L&DO, besides conversion and parking charges, if due," Oberoi said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)