When DDA Went Beyond the Principle Of Equality

It is an established law that the pricing of flats or plots of land is under the authority of the concerned state’s housing boards, and courts do not interfere in such matters. However, in the case of Rajender Prasad & Others against Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the court had to take a tough stance.

In this intriguing case, the National Commission found DDA going beyond the principle of equality by charging customers in an arbitrary manner. The complaint said before the court that a few allottees were charged lesser amount under the same scheme with no changes in land cost, construction cost or taxation structure.

DDA, after allotment of flats to a group of customers, made two major changes in the scheme: a) the share money shall not form part of costing, and b) service charges shall not be part of overall cost of land. It seemed these changes were benefiting the ones who applied late.

The National Commission, in its order on 19 May 2014, held it as discrimination and arbitrariness against those who had been delivered possession earlier on and were charged more. The Commission was of the opinion that the change in formula for calculating total cost had to be made uniformly applicable to all allottees in same area under the same scheme if certain allotments were made before passing of resolution. Hence, DDA was duty-bound to refund the amount to such allottees if charged extra.