Okay to bar Delhi home owners: HC

NEW DELHI: With the much-awaited DDA housing draw finally out, the Delhi high court on Tuesday said there was “nothing wrong” with DDA’s regulation which holds that a person, who already owns a flat or plot in Delhi, was ineligible to apply. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, however, reserved the judgement after hearing brief arguments.
“This is a state subject. There is nothing wrong in this. Our Constitution permits this. The objective is that no one possesses more than one flat,” the bench said. The high court was hearing a plea by Amit Mukhopadhyay challenging the validity and the legality of clause (7) of the DDA (Management and Disposal of Housing Estate) Regulations, 1968 as also sub-clause (iii) and (vii) of clause (2) on the ground that they are “arbitrary” and “unreasonable”.
According to the clause, the eligibility condition for a person to apply under the DDA (Management and Disposal of Housing Estate) Regulations, 1968, is that he or she should not own a residential property, plot or a flat in Delhi irrespective of the fact whether he is residing in Delhi or not. “Issue a writ of prohibition or any other appropriate direction, thereby restraining the DDA from conducting any draw of lots and allotment of flats in furtherance of scheme till final disposal of the plea,” the plea said.
The petition, filed through advocate Rabindra Singh, has sought a direction to DDA to put in place a fully-computerized system and fool-proof mechanism to rule out allotment of flat to any ineligible candidate. “Flats allotted to outsiders are either let out on rent or kept vacant for price appreciation. The Authority should keep the legitimate requirements of Delhites in mind and should permit the prior allottees of DDA flat to opt for allotment,” the plea added.