The court ruled that unauthorized constructions on community facility land must be addressed through acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, and ongoing matters before the Appellate Tribunal do not require further court intervention.

O R D E R

1. Present Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking direction to the respondents to take action against the concerned officials who have illegally sanctioned the construction plan on the open space/land and to remove the encroachment on W.P.(C) 16343/2023 Page 1 of 8 the open space/land situated at West Jyoti Colony, in the area of Chhajjupur, Kabir Nagar, Shahdara, Delhi, adjoining Guru Harkishan Public School, reserved for community facility. Petitioner further seeks direction to respondents to construct the community facilities as mentioned in the layout plan of Kabir Nagar, Chhajjupur, North and West Jyoti Nagar, Delhi, sanctioned in the year, 1992. He also seeks directions to respondents not to entertain any application/representation to sanction the site plan for construction before the regularization of the colony, in pursuance of the order dated 17th April, 2018 passed by this Court in W.P.(C) 8435/2017 filed by the petitioner.

2. It is observed that during the pendency of the present PIL, several orders were passed from time to time. In pursuance thereto, the respondent MCD had filed its reports. It is apposite to reproduce the relevant paragraphs of the status report dated 25th July, 2024 filed by MCD which are as under:-

“4. That as per records, the said colony was earlier an unauthorised colony, which was later regularised vide resolution No 1761 dated 14.10.1992 passed by the Standing Committee, of the erstwhile unified MCD, while exercising its powers u/s 312 & 313 of the DMC Act, 1957, as amended upto date. Upon, its regularisation, the said colony has acquired the status of unauthorised Regularised colony.

5. That upon close scrutiny of the said layout plan coupled with the resolution dated 14.10.1992, it has been revealed that the area earmarked for community facility has not been acquired by the Secretary (L&B), Delhi Administration.

6. That as such, the area comprising of the "Community Facility", as shown in the said regularisation plan has not yet been handed over to the MCD, till date.

7. That the said fact is further substantiated from the reading of clause 3 & 5 of the resolution dated 14.10.1992, where under the head "Recommendations", it is written as under: -

“3. The sites which have been earmarked for parks, schools, open W.P.(C) 16343/2023 Page 2 of 8 spaces and other community facilities would be immediately acquired through Secretary (L&B) Delhi Admn.”

“5. Alternative plots should be provided on reasonable basis to persons whose plots are covered in this public utility area”.

It is thus submitted that the Community Facility area, as shown in the regularisation plan of the year 1992, qua which, the present petition has been filed has never been acquired and has not been handed over to MCD till date.

8. That as such, as the resolution dated 14.10.1992, the said area is thus required to be acquired in terms of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act by the Secretary (L&B), Delhi Admn, and at the same time, the eligible occupiers/owners are required to be given an alternative site.

9. That the above facts and circumstances has been gathered by the Zonal Office Shahdara (North) only, after obtaining the copy of the above resolution and copy of the regularisation plan.

10. That with regard to the allegations of the petitioner that various sanction plans have been sanctioned by the officers of the responden/MCD illegally, it is submitted that no sanction has been accorded by the answering respondent with respect to any area/plot forming part of the land shown as "Community Facility". However, with the amendment in UBBL-2016, Under Ease of Doing Business, the Registered empanelled Architect / Engineer / Supervisor have been entrusted with the responsibility of obtaining the sanction plan under SARAL Scheme upto plot area 105 sq meter and under Self- Simplified Scheme through online module area up to 500 Sq-mtr, with no test check of the answe