New Delhi: Supreme Court has asked the Defence Colony residents’ welfare association (RWA) to pay Rs 40 lakh as compensation for illegally occupying a Lodhi-era structure of Shaikh Ali ‘Gumti’ and running its office from there for over six decades.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah refused to let off the RWA without paying the fine. “If we really calculate the damage caused by you, it will come to crores and crores of rupees. There are 1,600 plots and about 4,000 dwelling units. Even if you collect Rs 1,000 from each unit, it will come to Rs 40 lakh,” it said.
The bench posted the matter for hearing on April 8 and said, “We think it will be appropriate if compensation of Rs 40 lakh is paid by the RWA to the department of archaeology, Delhi govt, entrusted with the task of conservation and restoration of the monument.”
The court had slammed RWA for justifying its unauthorised occupation on the ground that it would have been misused by criminal elements if it had been left unattended. The court had said, “You are speaking like colonial rulers you know. Like if we didn’t come to India, what would have happened.”
The court also criticised the ASI for allowing the illegal occupation of the 700-year-old Lodi-era tomb. Doubting the bona fide of the ASI as also the central govt which had first favoured in 2004 to protect the monument but later on changed their stand in 2008, SC had earlier directed CBI inquiry to find out under what circumstances the authorities took u-turn on the issue.
