SC panel suggests vehicle registration of 1 car per family in Delhi | Latest News Delhi

The rampant unauthorised conversion of Delhi’s parks and public spaces into parking areas has led a Supreme Court monitoring committee to recommend that future vehicle registrations be limited to only one car per family. Alternatively, the panel recommended, the relevant authorities must ensure that the sale of a new vehicle be subject to whether the buyer has a dedicated parking space.

The recommendations form part of the latest report submitted by the three-member monitoring committee — constituted by the top court in 2006 — which is entrusted with overseeing the implementation of municipal laws with regards to illegal encroachments and sealing of commercial premises in Delhi’s residential areas.

The panel earlier this week submitted its report to a bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka as part of the MC Mehta case. However, the court could not consider the recommendations due to paucity of time, and the matter is likely to come up next week.

In its report, the committee — comprising former bureaucrat Bhure Lal, Vijay Chhibber, and SP Jhingon — noted that though the issue of parking is not under its ambit, looking at the “gravity of the parking issue” in the Capital, it was forced to propose these steps.

“The Monitoring Committee requests this court may issue directions to the concerned authorities to adopt a scheme whereby sale of new vehicles is restricted only to the buyers who have their dedicated parking space,” it said.

Alternatively, it suggested that the concerned authorities “adopt schemes whereby registration of new vehicles is restricted to one per family basis”.

To have an understanding of the ground realities, the committee conducted surprise visits to random spots in the Capital, falling under the North, Central and West zones, to ascertain the implementation of the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) and the Unified Building Bye-laws (UBBL), 2016.

“During these field visits, a consistent theme observed was rampant unauthorised encroachments on the public spaces, especially the footpaths in front of the commercially used properties, leaving hardly any space for the public to walk,” the panel said.

Haphazard parking of vehicles on footpaths and service lanes caused congestion on roads disrupting free flow of traffic, it said. In some of the areas, public parks were converted into parking areas for vehicles, while in some, the team found pandals of a permanent nature erected, which caused environmental degradation due to absence of greenery and reduced groundwater recharge, besides keeping parks out of bounds for local residents.

The committee further recommended that local bodies, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the Delhi Police, undertake periodic drives to immediately clear parks, footpaths, service roads, and public spaces of any kind of misuse or encroachment.

The panel has been filing reports from time to time bringing instances of misuse of MPD-2021 and UBBL, and even sent complaints to DDA and MCD for follow-up action. In its earlier report filed in October 2024, the committee said, “It appears that DDA is not serious about protecting its land from encroachments and the same is left as free for all.”

Responding to the committee’s October report, MCD recently filed a response before the top court, claiming that before addressing individual violations, the problem should have a policy-based approach. In its affidavit filed in early January, MCD said, “The development and planning process of national capital territory (NCT) of Delhi has failed to provide demand for housing and commercial space legally. This has resulted in cropping up of commercial space to fulfil the market needs…There has to be a rule-based regime to recognize and meet the growing needs for housing or commercial stock.”

The court had even asked Centre to play a role by coming out with the MPD-2041 — a policy document that will lay the roadmap for future planned development of Delhi for the next 20 years.

Work on finalising this document is ongoing. In 2022, the top court had recorded the Centre’s submission that MPD-2041 will be published before April 30, 2023. However, the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs had last year informed the court that it will require a deadline extension, offering a revised tentative deadline of March-end, 2025.