SC directs Centre, MCD to remove encroachments near 'Gumti of Shaikh Ali'

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the MCD to remove all encroachments around Lodhi-era monument "Gumti of Shaikh Ali".

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also directed the municipal corporation of Delhi to vacate and hand over its engineering department office space, located inside the monument premises, to Land and Development Office within two weeks.

The top court asked the deputy commissioner of police concerned and DCP to conduct a daily surveillance of the area to ensure the order was complied with.

The court observed the Defence Colony Resident Welfare Association , which was directed to pay ₹40 lakh as compensation for the unauthorised occupation of monument, hadn't deposited the amount and granted it time till May 14.

The apex court on March 25 directed the resident association to pay the compensation for its over six-decade-long unauthorised occupation.

The bench had ordered Delhi's archaeology department to constitute a committee for the restoration of the monument while directing a "peaceful" handover of the site's possession to the Land and Development Office.

It had then perused a report filed by Swapna Liddle, who is ex-convener of the Delhi chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

The court had appointed Liddle to survey and inspect the building and ascertain the damage caused to the monument and the extent of its restoration.

The bench in November 2024, pulled up the ASI for failing to protect the monument in Defence Colony, with the CBI flagging that a RWA was using the 15th century structure as its office.

Fuming over the inaction on the part of the ASI for having allowed the resident association to occupy the structure since the 1960s, the bench said, "What kind of authority are you ? What is your mandate? You have gone back from your mandate of protecting the ancient structures. We are perturbed by your inaction."

It pulled up the RWA, which occupied the tomb in 1960s, and for justifying its occupation by saying anti-social elements would have damaged it.

Justice Amanullah expressed his displeasure over the RWA's conduct and its justification.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by one Rajiv Suri, a resident of Defence Colony, seeking the court's directions to declare the structure as a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958.

He challenged the 2019 Delhi High Court order which refused to pass the directions.

The top court earlier this year asked the CBI to probe into the circumstances under which the structure came to be occupied by the RWA as its office and submit a report.

The probe agency informed the bench there were several alterations made in the structure by the RWA, including a false ceiling.

The top court was also informed that in 2004, the ASI started the process of declaring the tomb as a protected monument but dragged its feet upon objection from the residents' body.

It was also informed that in 2008, the Centre dropped the plan of declaring it as a protected structure.

Suri's plea referred to several historical records and said the structure found a mention in a survey of Delhi monuments conducted in 1920 by Maulvi Zafar Hasan, a British era archaeologist.

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