New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): The traders' associations of Delhi have strongly opposed the request made by the Monitoring Committee on sealing to the Supreme Court. The committee seeks to conduct additional inspections in the national capital to enforce sealing, which could potentially lead to the arbitrary sealing of businesses.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Praveen Khandelwal, and state president Vipin Ahuja, along with 15 leading business leaders of Delhi, expressed their concern.

They emphasised that at a time when the new master plan of Delhi, which is expected to address all issues related to the city's development over the past 15 years, is about to be introduced, the top court-appointed Monitoring Committee's actions would be extremely unfair and detrimental to the interests of Delhi's traders.

CAIT plans to hold a meeting of Delhi's traders to discuss the issue.

The trade leaders also called on the Chief Minister of Delhi and the Mayor of the Municipal Corporation to promptly address the matter and take the necessary steps.

"The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years, while the members of the monitoring committee are almost 70 years old. Therefore, this monitoring committee should be dissolved immediately by the court. Since a judicial committee has already been constituted by the court, there is no justification for the existence of the monitoring committee," stated the CAIT leaders.

They further highlighted that Delhi's businesses have already suffered due to sealing, with thousands of shops being closed for years.

CAIT has demanded the announcement of an amnesty scheme with a cut-off date to save Delhi's businesses from sealing.

They also stated that any new laws or measures should only apply prospectively, except for actions regarding encroachments on government land, for which immediate and firm action should be taken, and the traders have no objections.