HC slams DDA’s Rohini housing scheme: Source of fertile litigation

A division bench of Justices Pradeep Nandarajog and S P Garg expressed displeasure over the sheer number of petitions in this regard in the High Court and observed that the DDA had probably agreed to do more than it could accomplish.

The court noted that the DDA had then (30 years ago) not limited the number of applicants and the allottee numbers burdened it so much that it could not deliver on its promise.

“Rohini Residential Scheme,1981,has been a source of fertile litigation in this Court. The DDA bit off more than what it could chew. It did not limit the number of applicants under the scheme and as a result,nearly 120,000 applicants found themselves registered under the scheme,as per which DDA became obliged to allot a plot of land to each applicant as per priority position assigned to each applicant; the land to be allotted as and when acquisitions were complete and development completed,” noted Justice Nandarajog.

The court was adjudicating an appeal of one Krishan Chander who was issued a demand-cum-allotment letter for a plot in the 1981 scheme. He paid the first installment in time but defaulted on payment of the second and the third,which were deposited with a delay of one year,and the DDA cancelled the allotment.

When Chander filed a writ petition against this cancellation,a single judge bench refused to interfere with the DDA’s decision after noting that Chander was a Canadian citizen and had failed to prove that he was an Indian citizen on the date of the allotment of the plot to him. The court noted that his brother,as his attorney,was fighting his case.

While hearing the appeal,the division bench,however,noted that the DDA had not filed any document before the single judge to show that an Indian-born,who had acquired citizenship of a foreign country,was ineligible to apply under the scheme.

The court set aside the previous order and sent the matter back to the single judge bench for fresh adjudication.

The controversy regarding the Rohini scheme has also figured before the court’s Chief Justice — a group of applicants filed a writ against the inordinate delay in allotment. The Chief Justice’s bench has made it clear that the scheme,in no manner,will be scrapped and that DDA must develop the plots accordingly so that “at least their next generation could reap the benefit” of the allotment.