Delhi court discharges Ex MCD councillor in unauthorised construction case

New Delhi [India]: A Delhi Court has discharged a former MCD councillor of AAP from a case of unauthorised construction. The court took note of the fact that, at the time of the offence, the accused was neither owner nor occupier of the said property.

The court has also given the Deputy Commissioner of Police, the liberty to take action against the Investigating officer (IO) for not conducting an investigation related to the real culprits.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Anshul Mehta discharged Gurmukh Singh from the case of unauthorised construction after perusing the report from the concerned ACP and Deputy Commissioner (West) MCD.

“Perusal of the record shows that the notice for unauthorised construction was given on February 19, 2019, and at that point in time, the present accused persons were neither the owners nor the occupiers of the property in question, as they have already sold the property in the year 2017,” the judge said in the order passed on October 17.

“Accordingly, the present accused persons are hereby discharged,” MM Anshul Mehta ordered.

While discharging the accused, the court said, “Before parting with this order, the court deems it important to place the present order in the knowledge of the DCP concerned with the remarks that the real culprits have been allowed to flee away from the clutches of the law as there is no investigation conducted against the real owners at a relevant point in time.”

The court said that the DCP is at liberty to take necessary action against the concerned IO. Nothing else remains in the present matter.

The court noted that, as per the report filed by the ACP, he submitted that the present case was registered in the year 2019 and admitted that the present accused persons had already sold the property in question in the year 2017.

Advocate Anantdeep Thakur, counsel for the accused persons, also placed on record a photocopy of the sale deed wherein the accused persons sold the property in question in the year 2017.

Earlier, the court had directed the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) to appear in person and to file a report in this case.

The Court had asked the ACP why an ex-MCD councillor and his sister were made accused in the year 2019, whereas they had sold the property in 2017.

The court had also noted that, at the time of the issuance of notice, no construction was going on.

The Deputy Commissioner (West), MCD, was also directed to file a report.

The Investigation Officer (IO) had submitted that at the time of the issuance of notice, no construction was going on.

The Court had observed, “The Court has failed to understand, in the absence of any construction, how a notice under Section 332 of the DMC Act should be given. Further, the person who is made an accused in the present matter had sold the property in the year 2017, and the notice in the present matter on the property in question was given in the year 2019.”

Ex-Councillor Gurmukh Singh had approached the Court through advocate Anantdeep Thakur. It was stated that he had sold the property in 2017. However, a notice was issued for alleged unauthorised construction on the property in the year 2019.

An FIR was also registered against him at the police station in Tilak Nagar by MCD officials. At the time of the issuance of the notice, no construction was going on, the counsel argued.