CENTRAL SERVICE STATION Vs. N D M C

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners in this contempt petition allege wilful disobedience by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation ('NDMC') of the judgment dated 7.11.2006 passed by this Court in W.P. (C) No. 1180-83 of 2006.

(2.) The Petitioners are authorised dealers of the leading petroleum companies like the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and the Indian Oil Corporation Limited and have been running petrol pumps in the Connaught Place area in New Delhi for over five decades. On learning of a proposed new traffic circulation plan for Connaught Place and apprehending that they would be adversely affected, the petitioners wrote to the NDMC on 15.2.2005. They enquired whether and how they would be affected and where they would be relocated in that event. They were informed by a letter dated 15.7.2005 by the NDMC that the final plan for the relocation of the existing petroleum pumps was yet to be finalised and that they would be informed appropriately as and when a final decision was taken. The NDMC also informed the first Petitioner here that the final circulation plan would be issued only after consulting the stakeholders and after approval of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission ('DUAC'). Despite a detailed representation made by the Petitioners to it on 17.7.2006, the NDMC implemented a traffic circulation plan with effect from 25.7.2006 without any such consultation with the petitioners and other stakeholders or the approval of the DUAC. It was in these circumstances that the petitioners filed W.P. (C) No. 1180-83 of 2006 in this Court.

(3.) The Petitioners in their writ petition alleged that their sales had dropped by 40% in view of the altered traffic circulation plan since the radial roads on which they were located were closed permanently from one end and therefore free movement of traffic on those roads was not possible. The Petitioners also relied upon the provisions of Section 202, 203 and 207 of the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 ('NDMC Act') to contend that the mandatory statutory procedural requirement of prior consultation as envisaged in those provisions was not complied with. Pursuant to orders passed by this Court on 25.7.2006 a meeting took place between the Petitioners and NDMC but nothing useful came out of it.