Ensure no construction done in Sanjay Van, court directs DDA

nNEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the city police and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to ensure that no construction is carried out in Sanjay Van area, a protected forest area in south Delhi, without their permission.

A bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan issued the direction while hearing a PIL initiated by the court on its own on July 8 after coming across videos and photos circulated by visitors and joggers on social media of what appeared to be the construction of new ‘mazaars (graves)’ near Mayur Pahadi, a spot inside the forest.

On the last date of hearing, the court directed the police and the DDA to carry out an aerial survey and inform it about the number of mazaars in the park and since when they were in existence.

On Wednesday, the police in their affidavit filed through advocate Rahul Mehra, standing counsel of the Delhi government (criminal) and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, said there are 77 mazaars that are old and no fresh construction of any mazaar was found there.

“We did a comprehensive survey using drones and did not find any encroachment. On July 21 night , anti-social elements desecrated the old mazaars. The following day, police were informed about this after which they reconstructed the broken graves in order to avoid any communal tension,” a senior DDA official said.

Advocate Arjun Pant, DDA standing counsel, told the court that they had conducted an aerial survey on July 20 and geotagged the 77 mazaars.

When HT visited the spot last Friday, and again on Tuesday, it found that the site was guarded by the local police.

DDA’S horticulture director and the in-charge of the forest Ashok Kumar said, “On July 22, we had written to the DCP about the broken graves. They sent a team to look into the matter. The complaint copy has also been submitted to HC,” Kumar said.