In such a situation, the idea of a planned city becomes an aberration. The wide avenues of Lutyens’ Delhi, seems out of place when weighed against demographic forces that outnumber them in the hundreds of Kunjs, Enclaves, Vihars and Nagars that surround New Delhi. Similarly, Corbusier’s Chandigarh is neatly divided into sectors; but just look at the boundary of the artificial fortress: real India, seethes and convulses, awaiting admission. Indian urban conditions are on a perennial collision course with planning ideals.

Given the current situation in Delhi, in-fighting between the administrators, the courts and the planners is destroying the very place they wish to save. Everyone knows that running illegal shops, commercial establishments, basement offices, and so on, can hardly have been possible without official sanction. And yet the pretence continues. In the growing confrontation between the courts and the Delhi administration, city residents, including traders, play out their role as hapless victims caught in bureaucratic crossfire. Everyone survives moment to moment, between postponement and civic indecision, and in the perennial hope of a regularisation of their illegal status. In a place where administrative indifference rules, this is hardly an unusual expectation.

Certainly, when only a third of its residents live in legal constructions, the noisy majority will be at its most destructive if its livelihood is threatened. However, against the background of trader unrest, and the contentious exchange between court and administration, few will bet on an easy resolution. Only a complete year-long moratorium on sealing can diffuse the volatile situation. It would give enough time for agitating traders and other violators to bring their properties in tune with the new master plan. After which the government can legitimately take stronger and more effective action. Till that time, the administration will smile the I-told-you-so smile; the court will issue new rulings; the planners will raise their hackles to protest the violation of their sacred plan. And, with the cricket season approaching, everything will be forgotten.

... contd.