Delhi High Court
Pappan Kumar vs Dusib And Anr. on 7 February, 2012
Author: Hima Kohli
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 13553/2009
Decided on: 07.02.2012
IN THE MATTER OF
PAPPAN KUMAR ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Pramod Ahuja, Advocate
versus
DUSIB AND ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. O.P. Saxena, Advocate with
Mr. Vaibhav Sethi, Advocate for R-1/DUSIB.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Pathak, Advocate with
Ms. K.K. Kiran Pathak and Mr. S.N. Pandey,
Advocates for R-2/L&B Deptt., GNCTD.
W.P.(C) 2091/2010
SH.OM PRAKASH ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. K.P. Singh Chauhan, Advocate
versus
MCD & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. O.P. Saxena, Advocate with
Mr. Vaibhav Sethi, Advocate for DUSIB.
Ms. Swati Gupta, Advocate for Mr. Rajiv Bansal,
Advocate for R-2/DDA.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Pathak, Advocate with
Ms. K.K. Kiran Pathak and Mr. S.N. Pandey,
Advocates for R-2/L&B Deptt., GNCTD.
W.P.(C) 4672/2010
KRISHAN KUMAR MISHRA ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ashok Kumar Mohapatra, Adv.
versus
DUSIB AND ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. O.P. Saxena, Advocate with
Mr. Vaibhav Sethi, Advocate for R-1/DUSIB.
Mr. A.Rasheed Qureshi, Adv. for R-2.
Mr. H.S. Sachdeva, Advocate for R-3/GNCTD.
W.P.(C) 13553/2009 and connected matters Page 1 of 7
W.P.(C) 4969/2008
RAMESH KUMAR ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. L.B. Rai, Advocate
versus
DUSIB AND ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. O.P. Saxena, Advocate with Mr.
Vaibhav Sethi, Advocate for R-1/DUSIB.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Pathak, Advocate with
Ms. K.K. Kiran Pathak and Mr. S.N. Pandey,
Advocate for R-2/L&B, GNCTD.
W.P.(C) 97/2012
SHRI WAZEER AHMAD ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Brijballabh Tiwari, Advocate with Mr.
Ali Mohd. Maaz, Advocate
versus
GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI AND ORS ..... Respondents
Through: Ms. Navratan Chaudhary, Advocate for
R-1/GNCTD.
Mr. Arjun Pant, Advocate for R-2/DDA.
Mr. O.P. Saxena, Advocate with Mr. Vaibhav Sethi,
Advocate for R-3/DUSIB.
CORAM
HON'BLE MS.JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
HIMA KOHLI, J. (ORAL)
1. These petitions have been filed by five petitioners praying
inter alia for directions to the respondents to allot them flats under the
Residential Flats Registration Scheme for Slum Dwellers and Others 1985.
2. It is the stand of the petitioners that they were residing in
slums situated in various parts of Delhi since the year 1985. As the
respondent/DDA launched a scheme to improve the quality of life of
dwellers in the areas notified as slum under the Slum Areas
(Improvement and Clearance), Act 1956, Jhuggi Jhopris, slum
rehabilitation colonies, Jhuggi Jhopri resettlement colonies etc. by
providing them residential flats on easier terms linked with affordability
and opened the said Scheme for registration from 21.11.1985 to
30.12.1985, the petitioners, claiming to be eligible to apply under the said
scheme, submitted their applications to the respondent/DDA. It is stated
by the counsels for the petitioners that each of the petitioners have duly
deposited the registration amount under the aforesaid scheme,
whereafter, they have been patiently waiting for the past 27 years in the
hope of being allotted flats under the said Scheme, but to no avail, thus
compelling them to file the present petition, for appropriate directions to
be issued to the respondents to allot flats to those entitled and registered
under the said Scheme.
3. The stand of the respondent/DUSIB, erstwhile Slum and J.J.
Department, MCD is that the DUSIB is the implementing agency of the
Scheme. He states that as per the terms and conditions of allotment
under the aforesaid Scheme, 5662 flats have already been allotted to the
registrants, thus leaving 20,000 registrants in the wait-list. It is averred
in the counter affidavit that the remaining registrants could not be
allotted flats due to paucity of funds and land, which were to be provided
by the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India. However, today,
counsel for the respondent/DUSIB submits that both, funds and land are
required to be provided by Government of NCT of Delhi and not the
Government of India. It is further stated that though there is no fixed
timeline, within which the flats were to be allotted to the registrants
under the aforesaid Scheme as would be apparent from a perusal thereof,
the only reason that the wait-listed registrants have not been
accommodated is due to non-availability of funds. In this regard, he
hands over a copy of the letter dated 05.01.2011 addressed by the
Department to the Principal Secretary (Urban Development), Govt. of NCT
of Delhi, requesting the latter to provide `200 crores for the acquisition of
land at village Bakoli for construction of flats under the aforesaid scheme.
He further states that Delhi Government was also requested to take steps
to acquire 100 hectares of land in the revenue estate of village Bakoli and
to make it available for purposes of construction of flats.
4. Counsel for the respondent/Govt. of NCT of Delhi states that
at the request of the respondent/DUSIB, the government had acquired
land measuring 747 bighas 7 biswas at village Bhalswa Jhangirpuri during
the period from 1998 to 2001 and had further acquired 942 bighas 12
biswas of land at village Ghewra in the year 2003. Possession of the
aforesaid tracts of land has already been handed over to the
respondent/DUSIB. As regards acquisition of additional land at village
Bhalswa Jhangirpuri, the same could not be acquired by the Government
due to certain interim orders passed in a large number of writ petitions
pertaining to the aforesaid village. It is further averred in the counter
affidavit filed by respondent No.2/GNCTD that the request received from
the respondent/DUSIB to acquire additional land at village Bakoli has
been considered by it at the highest level, whereafter the Land Acquisition
Collector (North-West) has been directed to conduct a joint survey and
take necessary steps to initiate acquisition proceedings.
5. It is pertinent to note that the aforesaid affidavit was filed by
the respondent/Govt. of NCT of Delhi in May 2011, when it was stated
that as soon as the draft notification and other relevant documents would
be received from the Land Acquisition Collector, the same would be
placed before the Lieutenant Governor, NCT of Delhi, for necessary
approvals for issuance of requisite notification under the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894. However, counsel for the respondent/Govt. of NCT of Delhi is
unable to inform the court as to the current status of the aforesaid
process initiated by the Land and Building Department, Govt. of NCT of
Delhi for acquisition of additional land. As regards, the second aspect
relating to release of funds sought by the respondent/DUSIB from the
Government of NCT of Delhi, as requested in its letter dated 05.01.2011
mentioned hereinabove, there is no averment in the affidavit with regard
to the status of funds sought for construction of flats under the said
Scheme.
6. It appears from the above that there is some lack of
communication and co-ordination between the three government
agencies, which has not been ironed out despite the pendency of the
present petitions. As a result, though the petitioners are waitlisted
registrants for the past innumerable years, they have been kept waiting
for allotment of flats under the Scheme floated by DDA in the year 1985.
In the aforesaid circumstances, it is deemed expedient to dispose of the
present petitions with the following directions:-
(i) The Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi shall convene a meeting
to be attended by the Principal Secretary, Department of Urban
Development as also the Secretary, Land & Building Department of
the Govt. of NCT of Delhi and the CEO, DUSIB, the implementing
agency of the Scheme to discuss the manner and the timeline in
which the waitlisted registrants under the Scheme can be allotted
residential flats. The said meeting shall be convened within a
period of two weeks.
(ii) In the aforesaid meeting, the respondent/DUSIB shall make
available the list of pending registrants including the petitioners
herein and place on record its requirements for the purposes of
implementation of the Scheme.
(iii) The entire mode and manner of making available the funds as also
the land for construction of the remaining flats under the aforesaid
Scheme shall be minutely examined, in the aforesaid meeting,
whereafter, steps shall be initiated by the concerned agencies to
make an action plan for the purposes of implementation of the
Scheme in a time bound manner.
(iv) For the aforesaid purpose, the Principal Secretary (Urban
Development), Govt. of NCT of Delhi, shall be designated as the
Nodal Agency so as to co-ordinate between the different agencies
and to take steps to process the cases of the wait listed registrants
under the aforesaid Scheme.
(v) In view of the stand of the respondent/Govt. of NCT of Delhi as
taken and noted in paras No. 4 & 5 hereinabove, it shall take
immediate steps to initiate acquisition proceedings within a period
of six weeks from the date of convening the meeting of the
aforesaid agencies. Simultaneously, the Govt. of NCT of Delhi shall
process the request received from the respondent/DUSIB for
allocation of funds for the purpose of construction of flats under the
aforesaid Scheme, so that the petitioners and all other similarly
placed wait listed registrants can be allotted flats under the
aforesaid Scheme, hopefully in their lifetimes.
The petitions are disposed of.
(HIMA KOHLI)
FEBRUARY 7, 2012 JUDGE
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