New Delhi: Following a request from the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee seeking time to conduct random checks on voluntary closure of shops, a three-judge Bench on Tuesday adjourned to Thursday further hearing on the Centre's plea for relief to traders who had given undertakings to stop commercial activity in residential areas in the capital.

On November 15, the court agreed to consider granting relief to 25,000 affected traders, covered by the September 7 and 15 government notifications allowing continuance of commercial activities in certain areas, provided they filed by November 20 affidavits that they had stopped misuse.

On Tuesday Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal told Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati that the committee had sent a report stating that till 4.45 p.m. on November 20 it had received 18,459 affidavits and some more were expected.

The committee requested two days time to complete random checks to ensure that the traders had complied with the November 15 order. The Bench, which included Justices C.K. Thakker and L.S. Panta, acceded to the request, but made it clear that the committee would entertain no further affidavits.

Senior counsel M.N. Krishnamani, appearing for one of the 1,700 schools that faced the threat of closure, said the career of about eight lakh children would be affected if the institutions were closed during the middle of the year. As the Board examination was round the corner, the court should sympathetically consider these cases and allow the schools to continue till May 2007.

The Chief Justice asked Mr. Krishnamani to give the applications filed by the schools to amicus curiae Ranjit Kumar and Municipal Corporation of Delhi counsel Sanjiv Sen for their consideration.

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