Encroachment
Delhi had witnessed its first mass demolition and anti-encroachment drive in 1976, when the DDA cleared slum clusters from the Jama Masjid-turkman Gate area and also removed hundreds of illegal occupants from the Yamuna riverbed along the Ring Road in a drive led by the then DDA vice-chairman Jagmohan.
A bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta is hearing the case pertaining to unauthorised construction in Delhi and misuse of residential properties.
“An unauthorised colony cannot be placed in a better position than an authorised colony,” read the order issued by the bench.
According to the 2017-18 Economic Survey of Delhi, about one-third of Delhi (6.6 million people) lives in substandard housing, which includes 695 slum clusters, 1,797 unauthorised colonies, dilapidated areas, and 362 villages.
The ban on any construction activity in unauthorised colonies was ordered on the suggestion of senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who is assisting the court in the matter. Citing a 2007 order of the Supreme Court, he said the authorities should have ensured no illegal construction took place in unauthorised colonies that were due for regularisation.
Kumar sought a ban on all construction that was not in conformity with the building by-laws.
Agreeing with his submission, justice MB Lokur told additional solicitor general AS Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, to stop construction activities and added that regularisation of such colonies would only legalise illegal structures.
Experts blamed the agencies for their laxity. “Whenever the government announces the regularisation of an unauthorised colony, there is a rider that any new construction will be allowed only after the building plan is approved and structural safety certificate for the existing structure is given. But this provision has never been systematically examined and implemented,” former DDA planning commissioner AK Jain said.
Jain, who was involved with the preparation of Delhi Master Plan-2021, added that had authorities followed the rule book, the number of illegal colonies in the city would not have mushroomed from 110 in the mid-1960s to nearly 1,800 at present.
On Tuesday, when the DDA lawyer asked the court to allow amendments to the Master Plan, justice Lokur told additional solicitor general Maninder Singh: “You first prove your bona fide and then we will see.”
The ongoing sealing drive in the Capital started in January, close on the heels of the court’s decision last December to revive its monitoring committee.
The court on Tuesday also asked DDA to give details of the 27.02 acres of land it claims to have reclaimed from encroachers since April 1 this year.
THE COURT ALSO ASKED DDA TO GIVE DETAILS OF THE 27.02 ACRES IT ‘RECLAIMED’ FROM ENCROACHERS SINCE APRIL 1 THIS YEAR