Won't permit construction, repairs in Sainik Farms by interim orders: Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will not allow anyone to carry out any kind of construction or repair work in South Delhi's Sainik Farms colony by way of interim orders and will, instead, finally decide the issues concerning its regularisation.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad was hearing pleas moved by certain residents of the affluent "unauthorised" colony, seeking permission to carry out repair and maintenance work in relation to their properties.

Opposing the pleas that claimed the houses require repair and some kind of regular maintenance, the Centre told the court that it is against granting any permission for repair work in Sainik Farms as the colony is "purely unauthorised" and any interim relief would facilitate further unauthorised construction in a rampant manner.

Stating that they would "decide the matter finally", one of the judges said, "I am making it very clear that by interim orders, we will not permit anybody to raise any kind of constructions nor repairs." "We will decide the matter finally. We will not grant any permission of any kind for any construction.... We will hear this on holidays also in December," the bench said.

"List on December 17 for consideration of reply filed by Union of India/final hearing on the matter," it ordered.

The court also asked the parties to file a separate writ petition or suit for issues that do not pertain to the regularisation of the colony.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, submitted that in 2001, an order was passed by the court, specifically barring construction material to go inside the colony, and minor repairs were allowed subsequently under strict directions.

"We are not in favour of granting any permissions for repairs. This colony, though it has protection of law against demolition, is a purely unauthorised colony," she said.

In an affidavit filed in the matter, the Centre has said it has taken a conscious decision not to get into the regularisation of illegal colonies that are categorised as affluent ones like Sainik Farms and that it is presently focusing on the re-development work of the 1,797 unauthorised colonies that have been sub-divided into two classes.

Constructions raised in the affluent colonies such as Sainik Farms are protected by law up to December 2023, the Centre has said.

In May, while hearing a plea moved by Ramesh Dugar, convenor of the area development committee at Sainik Farms, for regularisation of the colonies in the area, a bench headed by then Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi had asked the Centre as to who would take responsibility if a house in the area comes down crumbling since the residents cannot carry out any repair work.

It had asked the Centre to explore the possibility of evolving a mechanism where there is credible vigilance in the matter of grant of permission to carry out repairs and even when the repairs are carried out in the existing structures, pending further decisions the government may take with regard to the affluent colonies.