No encroachment allowed on govt land: HC
9 Feb 2018 5:48 PM GMT
NEW DELHI: State is the absolute owner of its land even if it has not taken its possession and encroachers cannot be allowed to seek regularisation of colonies on such public land, the Delhi High Court has said.
The high court made it clear that if a land has been acquired by the government and it has not yet taken its possession, still the land is vested with the state pursuant to acquisition proceedings. The court dismissed the plea of a person who had claimed that the land on which his house was built was never in possession of the government and he had become the owner of the land by purchasing it from another person.
He was dispossessed from the property in south Delhi by the DDA in January 2007.
Justice Valmiki J Mehta said the court cannot permit the argument that the land claimed by the plaintiff is included in the application of a private Residents Welfare Association for regularisation of the colony, so he should be entitled to protection under the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2007.
The court noted that the plaintiff was an encroacher of a government land, whose ownership already vests with the state.
The court said if such an argument is allowed, it "would amount to giving licence by courts to persons to go and occupy government lands which are owned by government and thereafter make a colony and seeks its regularisation in terms of the 2008 policy".
An amendment to the NCTD law of 2007 provides protection to slums, unauthorised colonies and illegal structures in the national capital from penal action for a period of three years from January 2018 to December 31, 2020.
Next Story
