Drive against illegal constructions: MCD seals 54 jewellery stores in Chandni Chowk

The ongoing drive follows the collapse of the five-storey building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan building which claimed seven lives. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

As part of its ongoing drive against unauthorised commercial activities, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) sealed 54 jewellery shops operating from basements across four buildings in the Kucha Mahajani area of Chandni Chowk on Thursday, leaving many traders’ gold and silver jewellery locked inside their shops.

The shopkeepers claim that MCD authorities arrived in the area around 11:30 am on Thursday without prior notice and asked them to step outside and shut their shops. The officials then stuck sealing order notices on the shutters, locked the shops, and sealed them, they added.

According to the sealing order, commercial trade was being run in the basements of these shops, which violates the permitted usage under the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021.

The order states that a show-cause notice was first issued on November 19, 2019, under Section 345-A of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, directing the owners/occupiers to stop the commercial misuse of the basements within 48 hours. Subsequently, multiple opportunities for personal hearings were given to the owners in 2025, following which the traders were directed to pay a penalty amounting to 12 times the annual conversion charges — a directive they did not comply with. Following this, a sealing order was issued against the shops on February 17 this year.

The ongoing drive follows the collapse of the five-storey building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan building which claimed seven lives. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

According to MCD’s official statement: “Acting on the directions of the Monitoring Committee/Supreme Court, MCD on 10.09.2026 carried out sealing action against 54 illegal shops operating from basements at properties….Kucha Mahajani, Chandni Chowk. The action was taken against illegal commercial activities being carried out in violation of Unified Building Bye-Laws (UBBL) for Delhi 2016 and MPD-2021, including non-compliance with mandatory Fire Department and other statutory clearances….Sealing orders were issued under Section 345-A read with Section 347 of the DMC Act, pursuant to which all 54 illegal shops were sealed.”

The ongoing drive follows the collapse of the five-storey building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan building which claimed seven lives.

Adesh Kumar Jain, one of the traders in Mohini Market, claims that his shop was located on the ground floor and not the basement. “We submitted a plea in 2019 stating that we are not operating the shop from the basement. We were only 3 feet down, which does not constitute as a basement. However, as sewer lines were laid twice and a road was constructed, the base of our shops were pushed further down….We have been running these shops here since 1997. We possess GST number, Sales Tax number, and Income Tax number, along with electricity bills from that time,” he said.

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“The shop owners also have the required registrations needed from all concerned authorities. As you know, the Sales Tax and Electricity officials visit the shop and verify where we are running our business. If it is the ground floor, they write “ground floor”; if it is the first floor, they write “first floor.” So all of us shopkeepers have documents with the address explicitly stating ‘Ground Floor’,” Jain added.

“The sealing order was passed back in February, and they (MCD officials) arrived all of a sudden, without any prior notice. So all our belongings are lying inside, such as checkbook, internet passwords. Customer orders are also lying inside the shops. They could have given us intimation in the last six months that a sealing order had been passed and that they could come anytime. What were they doing for six months?”, he said.

Meanwhile, Yogesh Singhal, President of the All India Bullion and Jewellers Traders Association, said that they have met with authorities and flagged their concerns. “We have spoken to the ward councillor, MP, and MLA. We had also reached out to the Chief Minister’s office. But none of them could help, because this drive is being conducted under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee. We have forwarded applications to the Deputy Commissioner to open the shops temporarily so the traders can collect their inventory.”