Quibbling between DDA, DU over road delays campus construction by 29 years: HC notes

The Delhi High Court today said the "quibbling" between development authority DDA and DU over construction of an access road to a site earmarked for setting up colleges has led to the project not taking off for the last 29 years.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar observed that the land, in Roshanpura village of Najafgarh in South West Delhi, was given free of cost to the Delhi University (DU) in 1989 by the gram sabha for setting up colleges and a campus there.

"However, authorities (DDA and DU) are quibbling over the issue of construction of a road," the court noted and directed them as well as the Delhi government and the Surface Transport Ministry to hold a meeting for devising an action plan for providing access to the site in question.

 

The bench said the action plan and a report be placed before it within eight weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on August 6.

The observation came after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said it had written to the varsity asking it to pay for the road construction, but there has been no reply till date from the varsity.

The court told DU, "Since 1989 you have the land. It was given free of cost. Do you know what would be its cost now? Do you know how much the cost of construction would have gone up now? But you are not bothered."

The bench was hearing a PIL filed by the Najafgarh Senior Citizens Association which has claimed that the youths of the area do not have easy access to quality education and have to commute long distances to North and South Campuses of the university for it.

The association has sought directions to the varsity to set up colleges and a campus in the area.

According to the petitioner association, the land was given on lease in 1989 for 99 years, but till date only a boundary wall has been built around it.

The court had earlier said it was a "a sorry state of affairs" as the land was allotted in 1989 but the campus had not yet been constructed.