Revision as of 21:29, 3 January 2017

Encroachment: North Delhi

The Times of India, Dec 21 2016

Spots identified by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation for first phase of decongestion drive, December 2016; Picture courtesy: The Times of India, Dec 21 2016

Chandni Chowk to Narela: North corpn to drive out encroachers

Mayank Manohar

North Delhi Municipal Corporation is set to remove vehicles permanently parked in highly congested markets like Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid, Paharganj, Ashok Vihar, etc, after the NGT ordered Delhi's civic bodies to clear market areas of all encroachments. P K Gupta, commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said they have identified 12 major places for the drive in the first phase, after which it would be expanded to other areas.

North Corporation has selected Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid area, Tank Road, Gaffar Market, Raj Niwas, Ashok Vihar market, Narela main road, Alipur market, Jwala Heri mar ket, RG Complex Prashant Vihar, Ram Nagar, and Paharganj in the current drive.

“We will remove abandoned vehicles and start night sweeping at these places in the first phase. Old, abandoned cars not only clog the market, they also affect sanitary conditions of the area. Most of these cars have been parked here for several months, a few have been even lying here for the last couple of years. We have requested traffic police to assist us in this job,“ Gupta said. Traders in these areas are divided over the decision. “At least 15-20 vehicles have been parked in and around Paharganj market for a long time.These vehicles mostly belong to the residents of nearby areas, while a few are owned by some traders. We welcome the corporation's drive,“ Yogesh Kathuria, president of Paharganj market association, said.

Traders in Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid area say that several proposals were made by the corporation in the past, but nothing has moved on the ground.

“They proposed several things to decongest Old Delhi in the past. Almost 25% of Parade Ground and Gandhi Maidan's multilevel, under ground parking facility is taken up by abandoned cars. Every lane of Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, Dariba Kalan, and Jama Masjid areas is choked by several disused, rusting, and abandoned cars. Old Delhi will become a much better place once all these cars are removed,“ said Naresh Khanna, president of the jewellers' association of Dariba Kalan market.

The situation is much the same in most of the market places in North Corporation. “We have several vacant plots in Narela where we will dump the abandoned vehicles for the time being,“ Gupta said.

Judicial interpretations

HC: legalising unauthorised colonies creates problems

The Hindu, January 4, 2017

Akanksha Jain

The Delhi High Court said that jhuggi jhopri (JJ) clusters are normally “born out of need” and unauthorised colonies are “born out of greed” while rejecting the petition of a colony for regularisation.

The court observed that legalising unauthorised colonies in the past has emboldened encroachers besides causing environmental degradation, traffic bottlenecks and spread of diseases such as malaria due to lack of drainage facilities.

“It is pertinent to mention that people who have set up these unauthorised colonies have neither paid full development charges to the civic authorities nor provided proper civic facilities like roads, sewerage, drainage, water and electricity, and as a result of this, diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and tuberculosis are common in Delhi,” said Justice Manmohan.

‘Haphazard construction’

“It goes without saying that is extremely difficult if not impossible to provide adequate and proper sewage, drainage and roads after an unplanned colony has been constructed and occupied. After all, if the construction has been carried out in a haphazard manner without adhering to any scientific norms like grid pattern, how can a road with adequate width be subsequently provided,” he added.

The court made the observations while deciding in negative a petition filed by Utsav Vihar Residents Welfare Association seeking direction to the DDA to not encroach/ dispossess any member of the colony from its land.

Regularisation plea

Utsav Vihar is an unauthorised colony which came up in 1992 on a private agricultural land of Karala village. It is among the colonies seeking regularisation by the Delhi government. Part of the colony falls within the alignment of the roads proposed by the Delhi Development Authority.

The Utsav Vihar RWA had come to the court with a plea not to dispossess it from the land and also sought a direction to the civic agency to proceed under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, in case any land forming part of the colony is required for any public purpose.

Land acquired by DDA

The DDA, on the other hand, said it had acquired the land in 2007 after affecting demolition and that the land falling in the alignment of 100 metre road has only about nine properties and the RWA cannot seek relief for the entire colony on that basis.

The court was also informed that the colony's representation dated September 22, 2012 for regularisation had been rejected on the ground that the land was required for construction of a public road.

The RWA was contending that the acquisition has lapsed with the DDA failing to take over the possession of the land.

The court, however, was of the view that affected persons would have to file individual writ petitions and “till the time the appropriate court does not declare that the acquisition proceeding has lapsed, this court is of the view that the right of DDA to the land cannot be questioned”.

On regularisation, the court said since the colony's representation stands rejected and not challenged for two years, no relief can be sought in relation to it.