Delhi: Parliamentary Panel Displeased With Lack Of Punitive Measures Against Public Land Encroachers, Wants Stricter Policy In Place

Taking note of encroachers of the government land in Delhi going scot-free in certain cases, a parliamentary panel has asked the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to evolve a mechanism for recovery of demolition charges from the offenders after it retrieves such land parcels in future.

Flagging its concerns regarding the gaps in implementation of the Delhi Master Plan-2021, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has also sought details on the current status of the implementation of the Master Plan, outlining achievements, failures or delays.

It has asked the ministry to give the explanations in detail.

The PAC report, submitted to both Houses of Parliament, has highlighted that the primary objective of the targeted demolition by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is to retrieve valuable government land and to take measures to avoid any future encroachment.

The committee has observed that “no effort is made to trace the whereabouts of the encroachers and recover the legal charges” as provisioned in the DDA Act of 1957.

"The committee is of the view that this amounts to allowing violators to go scot-free...The committee, therefore, desires the ministry to evolve a mechanism for streamlining measures for recovery of demolition charges in consonance with the DDA Act, 1957 in future," the panel said.

PAC has also sought details and status of the demolition and fencing of all encroached DDA land.

As far as the progress of implementation of the Delhi Master Plan 2021 is concerned, the PAC in December 2018 had pulled up the DDA for its failure in monitoring the progress of city infrastructure and had asked it for setting up a monitoring unit.

The panel in its report has recommended the ministry to ensure that the High Level Committee consisting of all the stakeholders hold their meetings for reviewing, monitoring and managing the execution of the Master Plan.

The ministry has been asked to submit a status report.