India's top court on Wednesday halted a controversial drive to close illegal shops in the capital after three days of angry protests by thousands of shopkeepers.
The indefinite stay followed a six-hour meeting of a Supreme Court-appointed panel, which cited security concerns after protesters blocked traffic and threw stones at vehicles.
The shopkeepers were protesting against a September court ruling that ordered thousands of shops operating illegally in residential areas to be cleared. Under the order, some 44,000 shops were to be vacated on Thursday.
"The monitoring committee has decided that the sealing drive will not resume tomorrow (Thursday)," Deep Mathur, a spokesman for the municipal authority responsible for closing the shops, told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The move is a setback to attempts by city municipal authorities to restore a measure of order to the increasingly chaotic capital, where shops have been blamed for increasing traffic and noise in designated residential zones.
Traders took to the streets across the city on Wednesday, burning tyres and organising mock funerals for the Delhi state government on the last day of a three-day strike.
Four people died last month in clashes with anti-riot police and paramilitary troops.
The shopkeepers' strike had caused an estimated loss of 550 million dollars, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said in a statement.
A court last year ordered authorities to demolish thousands of illegal structures in a drive that has seen massive protests by residents and shopkeepers, who say they paid huge bribes to skirt building regulations.