The main gate of the tallest commercial building in town is under lock and key.

The entrance to Chatterjee International Centre at 33A, Jawaharlal Nehru Road, was allegedly sealed by Harsh Vardhan Gupta, a property owner in the landmark building, on Tuesday morning.

Gupta said he was acting on Supreme Court orders empowering him to utilise the ground-floor portion that he owns. But members of Chatterjee International Centre Society termed ?illegal? the move to debar 7,000 people from entering the building every day through the principal gateway.

Those working in the building now enter the premises through the adjacent passage, used as a driveway.

?On February 14, around 4.30 am, Gupta and his men overpowered the security personnel and locked the main gate,? alleged Mahesh Kumar Prahladka, general secretary of the building?s society. ?The locking of the main gate happened in the presence of a sub-inspector of Shakespeare Sarani police station.?

A.K. Roy, advocate of Gupta, confirmed that his client had gone to the building early on Tuesday with a large group of people to lock the gate to ?his property?.

Police said they were not taking sides. ?By the court order, Gupta it seems can lock the main gate,? said the officer-in-charge of Shakespeare Sarani police station.