Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Plea To Restrain DDA From Carrying Out Demolition Drive In Mehrauli Archeological Park Till Fresh Demarcation

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on a plea seeking directions to restrain Delhi Development Authority (DDA) from carrying out its demolition drive near Mehrauli Archaeological Park till a fresh demarcation of the area is conducted.

Justice Mini Pushkarna was hearing a plea moved by Mehrauli Minorities Resident and Shop Owners Welfare Association, a registered society, for directions to carry out a joint demarcation in the area.

DDA has been carrying out a demolition drive near Mehrauli Archaeological Park in Ladha Sarai village. It is the petitioner’s case that the area has many mosques, dargahs etc. which are Waqf properties, and various slums.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for petitioner society submitted that DDA had suddenly started the demolition drive in the whole area without consulting DUSIB, the land owning agency.

Reliance was placed on an order passed by Delhi Government’s Minister of Revenue on February 11 directing a fresh demarcation of the whole area. The counsel submitted that despite the order, the SDM was not carrying out the fresh demarcation, and demolition was being conducted by DDA on the basis of a previous demarcation conducted in 2021.

It was submitted that since there was already a direction from the Minister of Revenue to conduct a fresh demarcation of the area, no further demolition should have taken place.

On the other hand, the counsel appearing for DDA submitted that the action for demolition was conducted in terms of orders passed by a division bench of the High Court in a public interest litigation titled Delhi Waqf Board v. Delhi Development Authority & Anr.

The court was apprised that various directions have been passed by the division bench from time to time to make the Mehrauli Archaeological Park area free from encroachments.

Reliance was also placed on the recent order of December 23, 2022, wherein the division bench took note of DDA’s stand that the demolition will be done only as per the demarcation report of 2021 and refused to grant any interim stay.

After hearing the parties, Justice Pushkarna issued notice in the plea and listed the matter before the concerned division bench.

“Considering the submissions made and the fact that similar issue is already being considered by a division bench of this court, it is deemed expedient to place the matter before the division bench. List before division bench- 1 on February 17, subject to orders of the Chief Justice,” it said.

Title: MEHRAULI MINORITIES RESIDENT AND SHOP OWNERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION v. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS.