Land vandalised as govt grabbed it without use for it: HC

The Delhi High Court today said lot of land in the city has been "vandalised" as the government "grabbed" it without having a use resulting in it being encroached upon.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva made the observation while directing the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to file a detailed affidavit indicating the extent to which the land acquired by it has been utilised under various schemes.
It gave the direction while noting that the affidavit filed by DDA was "general" in nature and only indicated the amount of land acquired by it and taken possession of and transferred for use under various schemes, like residential or industrial.

"Affidavit on behalf of DDA is a general one indicating the extent of land acquired and taken possession of and land transferred for use under various schemes. However, no details are available. DDA shall file a detailed affidavit indicating exact extent of land used under the various schemes," it said.
The court also said "it is clear" that out of the 90407.02 acres of land acquired by it, the authority only took possession of 77090.27 acres which implied that it has not taken over the remaining approximately 13000 acres.
"They (DDA) grab land without having a use for it. Then it is encroached upon. So much land has been vandalised this way," it said.

It also noted that while DDA claims to have paid Rs 4242 crore as compensation to Land and Building Department, "it is not clear" in respect of how much land the amount has been paid.

The affidavit was filed by the authority pursuant to the court's July 23, 2014 order directing DDA to indicate the lands in respect of which acquisition have been completed, possession has been taken and compensation paid.
DDA was also directed to indicate how much land they had received and what use they have put it to.
Court was hearing a PIL initiated by it in 2005 on news reports that due to DDA's failure in taking possession of over 40,000 acres of land acquired by it, mafia and slum-dwellers had encroached upon it.