LAWS(DLH)-2014-4-116

MAHINDER SINGH Vs. GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI

Decided On April 23, 2014
MAHINDER SINGH Appellant
V/S
GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this common order, the Court proposes to dispose of a batch of nineteen petitions, wherein the petitioners have sought directions to the Govt. Of NCT of Delhi to permit them to undertake fresh construction on plots of land allegedly allotted to them in Khasra Nos. 129, 142 and 143, Ambedkar Colony, Chattarpur, Delhi under a 15-year patta issued in pursuance to a Housing Scheme floated under the Twenty-Point Programme introduced in the year 1976, by the then Prime Minister of India.

(2.) For the sake of convenience, the facts narrated in W.P.(C) No. 1143/2013 are being taken into consideration. The petitioner in the said petition has claimed that on 18.06.1985, he was issued a patta by the Pradhan of the Gram Sabha, Chattarpur, New Delhi, allotting him a residential plot measuring 100 sq. yards comprised in Khasra Nos. 129, 142 and 143, village Chattarpur, Delhi. He claims that after the plot was allotted in his favour, he had carried out construction thereon and started to reside there alongwith his family. In the year 2004, the officers of the respondents started alleging that the petitioner's possession over the subject plot was not on the same land that had been allotted to him under the Scheme. On 6.11.2004, the respondents proceeded to demolish the petitioner's property. On 26.1.2005, the Deputy Commissioner (South) had addressed a letter to the SHO, Mehrauli permitting reconstruction at the site in question limited to the extent of the pre-existing structure that had been demolished on 6.11.2004, with a caveat that the said approval did not confer any title or interest on the Gram Sabha land in question and the ownership thereof would remain vested in the Gram Sabha.

(3.) Thereafter, the petitioner claims to have carried out fresh construction on the subject plot to the extent of the pre-existing structure, but alleges that on 26.7.2007, the respondent No.2/BDO had demolished his house with the help of the police force. Yet again, on 23.3.2011, the respondent No.2/BDO came to the site with the police force and allegedly carried out partial demolition of the petitioner's house. Demolition action was undertaken for the third time in November, 2012 and finally, in January, 2013, the respondents had proceeded to dispossess the petitioner from the plot in question. On 10.2.2013, when the respondent No.4/Department of Transport, Govt. of NCT of Delhi started raising construction around the area, including the petitioner's plot, he alongwith other aggrieved parties had filed the present petitions seeking permission to carry out fresh construction over the subject plots allegedly allotted to them by virtue of the Patta certificates.