The Municipal Corporation of Delhi Wednesday urged the Delhi High Court to allow demolitions of illegal structures in a phased manner, saying 80 percent of residential and commercial constructions in the capital were unauthorised.

Asserting that it would not deviate from taking demolitions to their logical conclusion, the civic body, however, sought the court's permission to initially target major violators.

In an affidavit filed before a Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha [Images] Sharma, the corporation contended that major violators included unauthorised constructions of properties housing big showrooms, retail shops, wholesale shops, restaurants and shopping malls.

In the status report submitted over the ongoing demolition drive which has generated much political heat, the corporation claimed it had initiated penalty proceedings, based on findings of the Vigilance Department, against 113 officials of the level of junior engineer and assistant engineer.

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