On October 1, 2013 – the day the Supreme Court rejected the plea for regularisation of the Campa Cola compound in Mumbai – the Delhi High Court also gave a ruling on the issue of illegal construction. In response to a PIL filed by a trust called Fraternity Against Corruption, the court directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the police, South Delhi MCD, Delhi Jal Board and BSES Rajdhani Power Limited to submit a status report on illegal constructions in Delhi. It was a development that got little play in the media which was busy reporting on the Campa Cola story and how the middle class was once again being crushed by corruption.
However, the PIL that alleges “rampant land grabbing, encroachment and illegal construction on DDA lands in and around Delhi which is open and brazen loot of public resources affecting public at large” merits more attention as it raises an issue that has never quite received the attention and scrutiny it warrants. A report – replete with damning figures and threatening forecasts- on unauthorised construction and misuse of premises in Delhi compiled by a committee of experts set up by the Ministry of Urban Development corroborates the gravity of the issue. According to the report, as much as “70-80 per cent of all structures presently standing in NCT of Delhi are in one way or another, violative of Building and Development Control Regulations”.
The report was filed in 2006 – almost eight years ago. Since then, Delhi’s population has grown – even by the most moderate estimates – by almost 15 per cent. Which essentially means that the numbers have become even more unflattering. It is important to acknowledge that it is unfair to view the issue of illegal construction in absolute terms because it stems from wide-spread complex socio-economic urban dynamics. Yet, the DDA has definitely fallen short in discharging its duties. The report corroborates that and squarely blames the DDA of “deliberately restricting the supply of commercial sites, in order to artificially push up the auction bids”.
Sunder Khatri who along with Dhananjay Tyagi filed the PIL on behalf of Fraternity Against Corruption, asserts that authorities concerned conveniently turn a blind-eye to illegal constructions. “Even regularisation of illegal colonies and constructions that have taken place over the last few years have been done in a haphazard half-baked fashion and they reek of vested interests”, Khatri told Newslaundry. Khatri also claimed that almost all recent regularisations have been done without transferring the sale deed – the document that legally validates purchase/sale of property in India.
The outgoing Lokayukta of Delhi, Justice Manmohan Sarin, who has always been a staunch critic of the Delhi government’s seemingly arbitrary regularisation exercises, has for long expressed concern about the issues addressed in the PIL. In his last judgment before retiring on November 5, he ruled that regularisation of colonies in 2008 by the Delhi government was a politically motivated move – an assertion that doesn’t appear very inaccurate considering the Sheila Dixit-led government regularised as many as over 1218 unauthorised colonies ahead of assembly polls in 2008. In fact, that wasn’t the only occasion in which Justice Sarin came down hard on the state government’s incompetence at curbing illegal contractions in the city. As can be seen here and here, Sarin had repeatedly condemned the state government and related regulating bodies for its lacklusture approach at controlling the menace. Sarin’s recurring calls for accountability of the municipal councilor when large-scale unauthorised construction takes place in his/her constituency failed to evoke any substantial measures from the state government.
The response to the PIL filed by Fraternity Against Corruption – which is given below – ends with: The answering Respondent will take appropriate action against the said property in accordance with law. Interestingly, the official respondent to the PIL – an official with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation – failed to turn up in court the day (October 29, 2013) the court was supposed to assess the report and give its judgment on the subject. Dubious behaviour for someone who is to “take appropriate action in accordance with the law”. “The response dodges most of the issues raised in the PIL and hardly addresses any our concerns”, said counsel Sunder Khatri.
It is almost natural for a city like Delhi that is perpetually on an unrelenting expansion mode to be plagued by a problem of illegal constructions. Portions of its swankiest neighbourhoods have been erected sidestepping and flouting norms. Sainik Farms, Anant Ram Dairy, Mahendru Enclave – inhabited primarily by retired bureaucrats, cops, defense personnel and politicians – have been in the news for irregularities much more than their residents would like. There are of course scores of other less high-profile colonies – which the government and the media care to notice only when elections approach. While it is important to not demarcate what is a multi-layered problem into a sharp black and white, a few deductions are inevitable.
One, the problem has magnified because of extremely bad governance. Law enforcement agencies have chosen to be mute spectators when they could have played a stronger more pro-active role. Since its inception, the DDA – which was envisioned to prepare the master plan to facilitate Delhi’s transition from an old lopsided city to a robust and well-planned metropolis - has only constructed around four lakh housing flats. The population of Delhi has in the meantime risen from less than 1.5 million to over 16 million. The numbers, very evidently, make for a scary picture.
