The 18,000-odd traders classified as ‘small' traders who had voluntary shut their shops as per the undertakings submitted by them to the Supreme Court can now breathe easy as the Supreme Court, on Thursday, allowed them to reopen their shops. According to the court these traders can reopen their shops and will be treated at par with the others who have got relief till January 31, 2007. This move is aimed at bringing an end to the uncertainty over sealings and also the violent protests that had held the city to ransom with bandhs being the order of the day.

Even though these traders are happy at the court's decision, they are still a worried lot since they feel that the relief is temporary and come February 2007 and the entire story will once again be repeated. Besides this, there are still around 5.5 lakh businesses affected by sealing and according to Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), they will continue to pressurize the government to provide them with relief. According to them the Union government must act immediately to stop these sealings by way of some constitutional amendment which the government had already provided assurance for on the floor of the Parliament in its last session.

Though majority of the traders got relief, the court still found more 'big fish' in the notified 2,183 roads that were declared commercial and asked them to keep their shops and showrooms shut till they provide adequate parking space for their customers. These mainly include big furnishing shops, big diamond and gold jewellery shops, big showrooms for sale of old and new cars, big branded showrooms, big restaurants and call centres/BPOs. This number is separate from the 5,000-odd 'big fish' who are already facing closure in the posh A and B colonies which, according to the notifications, deserve no mercy.

While giving relief to the 18,460 traders, the court also noted that the committee, during its random check, found 34 of these traders to have tendered false affidavits prompting it to immediately direct their closure. Also, since both the urban development ministry and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had pegged the number of these traders at closer to 25,000, it will now be imperative on the part of the civic body to seek out the 7,000-odd traders who have not come to the court for relief by filing a fresh undertaking, and seal their shops.