Sukhbir Singh v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi

1. The case of the petitioners except the petitioner in WP(C) No.1178/2013 and WP(C) No.2194/2013 is that the land of their respective father was acquired by Govt. of NCT of Delhi for planned development of Delhi, whereas the case of the petitioner in WP(C) No.1178/2013 is that the land of his grandfather was acquired by the Government for similar purpose. According to the petitioners in WP(C) Nos.1032/2013, 1111/2013, 1116/2013, 1165/2013, 1181/2013, their respective 2013:DHC:2338 W.P.(C) No.1027/2013 father had applied to Govt. of NCT of Delhi for allotment of alternative plots under the scheme notified by the Govt. of India vide its letter dated 2.5.1961 for large scale acquisition, development and disposal of land in Delhi. The case of the petitioners in WP(C) No.1027/2013, 1028/2013, 1030/2013, 1039/2013, 1113/2013, 1114/2013, 2187/2013, 1115/2013 and 1179/2013 and 2386/2013 is that they had applied to the Government for allotment of alternative plot under the above referred scheme of Govt. of India. According to the petitioner in WP(C) No.1178/2013, the land belonging to his grandfather was acquired by the Government and his father then applied for allotment of alternative plot under the aforesaid scheme of the Government. The case of the petitioner in WP(C) No.2194/2013 is that the land of her husband was acquired for planned development of Delhi and he had also submitted an application for allotment of alternative plot from the Government.

2. According to the petitioners though they applied years ago for allotment of alternative plot from DDA, their request for such allotment has not even been considered by the Government so far.

3. The petitioners are, therefore, seeking direction to Govt. of NCT of Delhi to make request to respondent No.2 DDA for allotment of alternative plot in their names under the aforesaid scheme. Yet another direction sought by them is to respondent No.2/DDA to make allotment of alternative plot in furtherance of the recommendation to be made by respondent No.1 Govt. of NCT of Delhi, in a time bound manner.

4. A perusal of the counter affidavit filed by Govt. of NCT of Delhi would show that the acquisition of land in 13 villages, including the village(s) wherein land of the petitioners/their father was situated, was challenged by way of a number of writ petitions filed in this Curt. The aforesaid writ petitions came to be decided by the decision of this Court in Balak Ram Gupta Vs. UOI & Ors. 38 (1989) DLT 243 quashing the notification acquiring land in the above referred villages. There was some confusion as to whether the aforesaid decision would apply only to the land of the petitioners before this Court or it would also apply to the land owned by the persons who were not parties to the said writ petitions. Later it was clarified by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Abhay Ram vs. UOI 1997 (5) SCC 421 and Om Prakash vs. UOI (2010) 4 SCC 17 that the decision of this Court in Balak Ram Gupta (supra) quashing the notification was restricted to the land belonging to the petitioners in those cases. As a result, the land belonging to the persons who were not writ petitioners before this Court remained acquired and consequently they became entitled for allotment of alternative plot from DDA under the Scheme formulated by Govt. of India vide its letter dated 2.5.1961.

5. A similar petition came up for consideration before this court in WP(C) No.7219/2005 decided on 27.2.2006 and the writ petition was disposed of with a direction to process the application and carry out verification within a period of eight weeks. Another similar petition, being WP(C) No.7426/2007, came up for consideration before this court and vide order dated 7.7.2010, the Court disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the Government to process the case of the petitioners within a period of twelve weeks, subject to the petitioners complying with the requisite formalities. Identical orders came to be passed in WP(C) No.1269/2007 decided on 12.8.2009.

6. In case (a) the petitioners or their fathers or the husband, as the case may be, have applied to Govt. of NCT of Delhi for allotment of alternative plots under the Scheme notified by Govt. of India for Large Scale Acquisition, Development and Disposal of Land in Delhi, vide letter dated 2.5.1961, (b) their land stands acquired for planned development of Delhi, (c) they have not taken back the possession of the aforesaid land from the Government or otherwise dealt with it in any manner and (d) have not refunded the compensation received by them from the Government, they are entitled to be considered for allotment of alternative plots under the aforesaid scheme. The petitioners before this Court are directed to file affidavits to Govt. of NCT of Delhi within two weeks from today stating therein:

1. Their land/land of their father/husband, as the case may be, was acquired by Govt. of NCT of Delhi for planned development of Delhi.

2. They/their father/husband, as the case may be, had taken compensation in respect of the acquired land from the Government and have not refunded the said compensation to the Government.

3. They have not taken back possession of the acquired land and have not encumbered the same or otherwise dealt with it in any manner.

4. The acquisition of the aforesaid land has not been challenged by them before any forum.

5. They had applied to the Govt. of Delhi for allotment of alternative plots. The petitioners shall also give full details of their application seeking allotment of alternative plots in their respective affidavits. On filing of the aforesaid affidavit, the applications if already submitted shall be duly processed by the respondent/Govt. of NCT of Delhi on maturity of their turn, computed from the date of submission of the application or as per their policy, in case the policy provides otherwise.

7. It is made clear that the petitioner shall not be entitled to any out of turn consideration of their application. The scrutiny shall be completed within a period of 12 weeks from the date of submission of the affidavit in terms of this order provided the turn of the concerned petitioner has matured for such consideration. The objections, if any, shall be communicated within two weeks of completing the scrutiny and the deficiencies, if any, shall be removed within four weeks thereafter. The final decision, on the application seeking alternative allotment shall be taken by the Govt. of NCT of Delhi within a period of 12 weeks of the deficiencies being removed in all respect and shall be communicated to the persons concerned within two weeks thereafter.

8. Respondent No.2 DDA is directed to intimate to Govt. of NCT of Delhi, within a period of four weeks from today, as to whether the land, subject matter of these writ petitions continues to be in its possession or not. Such intimation shall be given separately, in respect of all the petitions. All the writ petitions and CMs stand disposed of in terms of this order. V.K. JAIN, J MAY 07, 2013 aj