Sanmukh Singh vs Dda
2012 Latest Caselaw 228 Del

*           IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI


+      W.P.(C) No.400/2011 and C.M. No.782/2011


                                                    Decided on : 12.01.2012

IN THE MATTER OF
SANMUKH SINGH                                    ..... Petitioner
                         Through: Mr. R.K. Saini, Adv. with
                         Mr.Vikas Saini and Mr. Vikram Saini, Advs.


                   versus

DDA                                               ..... Respondent
                         Through:     Dr. Indra Pratap Singh, Adv.


CORAM
HON'BLE MS.JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI


HIMA KOHLI, J. (ORAL)

1. The present petition is filed by the petitioner praying inter alia

for directions to the respondent/DDA to allot him a MIG flat under the

New Pattern Registration Scheme, 1979 (NPRS-1979) in lieu of

cancellation of allotment of a MIG flat made in his favour in the draw of

lots held in the year 2002.

2. The facts of the case lie in a narrow compass. It is the case

of the petitioner that in the year 1979, the respondent/DDA announced a

scheme for allotment of flats to be built under MIG, LIG and in Janta

Category. The petitioner applied for and got himself registered for

allotment of a MIG flat under the aforesaid NPRS-1979, after which, he

was allotted registration No.30014. At the time of registration, the

residential address given by the petitioner was "House No.19H, Arjun

Nagar (Near Green Park), New Delhi-16". In support of the submission

that the aforesaid address was the one that was furnished by the

petitioner at the time of registration, counsel for the petitioner draws the

attention of the Court to Annexure P-1, which is a copy of a deposit

receipt dated 26.9.1979 issued by the respondent/DDA reflecting the

aforesaid address as the address of the petitioner. In the year 1984, the

respondent/DDA prepared a priority list and gave priority numbers to all

the registrants and the petitioner herein was given priority No.34910.

3. In the year 2002, as per the priority list, the name of the

petitioner came to be included by the respondent/DDA under a draw of

lots held for MIG Category and he was allotted a Flat No.70 (Second

Floor), Pocket 5, Sector 12, Dwarka Phase-I, New Delhi. But, thereafter,

a demand-cum-allotment letter addressed to the petitioner was sent by

the respondent/DDA at the wrong address, i.e., "House No.14H, Arjun

Nagar, New Delhi" and as a result, the petitioner never received the same

and remained unaware of the allotment made in his favour. In the

meantime, the respondent/DDA cancelled the allotment made in favour of

the petitioner due to non-response/non-payment by the petitioner.

4. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that it was

only in the year 2010 that the petitioner came to know that all the

registrants under the NPRS-1979 had been allotted flats and the relevant

information in that regard was available on the website of the

respondent/DDA on the internet. Upon accessing the website of the

respondent/DDA on the internet in the month of October, 2010 and on

downloading the relevant information pertaining to his registration, the

petitioner was surprised to note that his address was wrongly reflected as

House No.14H, Arjun Nagar, New Delhi (Annexure P-2). On 25.10.2010,

the petitioner made a representation to the respondent/DDA pointing out

that the demand-cum-allotment letter was dispatched by the

respondent/DDA at the wrong address, and that the said fact was borne

out from the information made available by the respondent/DDA at its

website on the internet (Annexure P-3). In the aforesaid representation,

a further request was made to the respondent/DDA to allot an alternative

flat to the petitioner. Thereafter, a couple of reminders were issued to

the respondent/DDA, but as nothing was heard from it, the petitioner filed

the present writ petition on 20.1.2011.

5. Notice was issued on the present petition on 21.1.2011.

Pursuant thereto, appearance was entered on behalf of the

respondent/DDA and a counter affidavit has been filed in the matter,

relevant portion of which is reproduced herein below for ready reference :

"Shri Sanmukh Singh/petitioner vide

registration No.30014 had got himself registered for the allotment of MIG flat under NPRS-1979. He was issued a Priority Number 34910 against the above registration number. The petitioner was declared successful for allotment of MIG flat No.70, Second Floor, in Sector-12, Pkt. 5, Phase-I, Dwarka through the computerized draw held on 27.9.2002 on Hire Purchase basis. The demand-cum-allotment letter dated 9.12.2002-16.12.2002 was sent at his address "H.No.14-H, Arjun Nagar (Near Green Park)" with request to deposit the demanded cost of flat as per schedule mentioned therein. The last date of making the initial payment (with interest) was 15.5.2003. However, the demand-cum-allotment letter returned un-delivered from the postal authority with the remarks "No such block". The allotment of flat stood automatically cancelled on account of non-

payment/non-response."

6. From the aforesaid stand taken by the respondent/DDA, it is

clear that the demand-cum-allotment letter dated 9.12.2002 was

dispatched by the respondent/DDA at the wrong address, i.e., H.No.14H,

Arjun Nagar (Near Green Park), New Delhi instead of House No.19H,

Arjun Nagar (Near Green Park), New Delhi which is the correct address.

As the said letter never reached the petitioner, he could naturally not

deposit the initial payment by the cutoff date, i.e., by 15.5.2003. The

respondent/DDA has taken a stand that the demand-cum-allotment was

returned undelivered by the postal authorities with the remarks that "No

such block" exists and thus the allotment of the flat made in favour of the

petitioner stood automatically cancelled on account of non-payment/non-

response. It is further stated that the NPRS-1979 has since been closed

after issuance of a public notice in a leading newspaper in this regard and

that the petitioner is only entitled to refund of the registration money as

admissible as per the DDA's policy, but, not to an alternative allotment of

flat.

7. From the aforesaid facts and circumstances, it is clear that the

case of the petitioner falls under the purview of the Office Order dated

25.2.2005 issued by the respondent/DDA (Annexure P-5), wherein it was

decided that where demand letters were sent at a wrong/old address and

the allottee approaches DDA within a period of four years from the date of

allotment, he/she shall be allotted a flat at the old cost, prevalent at the

time when the priority of the allotee matured and no interest would be

charged. However, in cases where such an intimation had been made but

the allottee has not approached the DDA within a period of four years

from the date of allotment, it was ordered that the allottee would be

considered for allotment of a flat at the old cost prevalent at the time of

original allotment along with simple interest @ 12% per annum with

effect from the date of original allotment till the date of issue of fresh

Demand-cum-Allotment Letter. The case of the petitioner would be

specifically covered under the latter situation mentioned in the aforesaid

Office Order dated 25.2.2005 since he had approached the

respondent/DDA beyond the period of four years from the date of

allotment.

8. In view of the fact that the respondent/DDA has not denied

the fact that the address of the petitioner as reflected in the deposit

receipt dated 26.9.1979 issued by the Department, reflected his correct

address as House No.19H, Arjun Nagar (Near Green Park), New Delhi,

then it was for the respondent/DDA to have ensured that all the

correspondence which emanated from its office, was forwarded at the said

address. The fault lies at the door of the respondent/DDA, who still

proceeded to wrongly register the address of the petitioner in its records

as House No.14H, Arjun Nagar, New Delhi, and thereafter started to

dispatch letters/make correspondences at the aforesaid wrong address.

Hence, the present case is squarely covered under the aforesaid Office

Order dated 25.2.2005 issued by the respondent/DDA and it is held that

the petitioner is entitled to an alternate allotment of a flat in terms of his

registration.

9. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed and disposed of

with directions to the respondent/DDA to hold a mini draw of lots within a

period of three months, wherein the name of the petitioner shall be

included for allotment of a flat in the MIG Category at the old costs

prevalent at the time of the original allotment along with simple interest

payable @ 12% per annum with effect from the date of the original

allotment till the date of institution of the present writ petition, i.e., till

20.1.2011. The respondent/DDA shall issue a fresh demand-cum-

allotment letter to the petitioner within a period of two weeks from the

date of holding the mini draw of lots and possession of the flat allotted to

him, shall be handed over to the petitioner upon his completing all

requisite formalities within a period of four weeks thereafter.

10. The petition is disposed of, along with the pending application,

while leaving the parties to bear their own costs.

                                                     (HIMA KOHLI)
JANUARY 12, 2012                                         JUDGE
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