The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) drew flak from the High Court on Monday for a lottery system which pits a slum-dweller of the Capital against affluent applicants from other states for a flat.

“It is so unjust that a person living in a jhuggi-jhopdi, who is virtually getting a lifetime opportunity to live in a house in Delhi, has to compete with a person from other states having at least 10 properties,” a Division Bench led by Chief Justice AP Shah said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Prem Chand of Dilshad Garden here, through his lawyer K V Dhananjay, against the DDA Housing Scheme 2008, which puts Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) applicants from outside Delhi on par with their counterparts domiciled in the Capital.

Over 5,000 flats were put up for allotment under the scheme, of which 17.5 per cent were earmarked for the Scheduled Castes. The court on Monday directed the DDA to give a break-up of the number of SC/ST allottees from within Delhi and those from outside the state.

The Bench drew the agency’s attention to a Supreme Court ruling that reserved caste certificates obtained from one state need not be recognised in another.

“One cannot go to another state for employment and claim the benefits of the same caste certificate. Those benefits vanish in the new territory,” the Bench observed.

The case has been posted for further hearing on February 17.

Rajeev Bansal, counsel for the DDA, attacked Chand’s contention saying the latter was an unsuccessful allottee who had initially accepted the scheme’s terms.

... contd.