Millennium Bus Depot: HC turns down DTC plea on more time

The Delhi high court on Tuesday shot down DTC’s plea for six months time to approach DDA to change land use of the site where the Millennium Bus Depot is located, saying it was an abuse of the court process to seek extension of time after undertaking to shift it.

A Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath dismissed the application of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) saying that the High Court had in 2012, given six months to either shift the depot or change land use of site and now there was “no justifiable reason” for further extension.

The court also observed in its six-page order that as Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has stated it was not possible to change the master plan with regard to the site, steps taken for changing land use have “failed”.

The High Court had in 2012 given DTC six months to relocate its depot or get the Master Plan Delhi (MPD) 2021 amended to enable it to continue functioning from its current location on the banks of river Yamuna. The order had come on the petition of two environmental activists, Anand Arya and Manoj Misra. After expiry of six months, a contempt plea was filed by the petitioners against DTC for not relocating its Millennium Bus Depot, built at a cost of Rs 60 crore for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. DTC had undertaken before this Bench in January last year that it would shift the depot by October 31, 2014, to an another site provided by DDA. The deadline for relocation was later extended to August 20 by the court. DTC had earlier, told the court that the Urban Development Ministry was examining the issue of changing land use of the depot site to enable the city government to park its buses. 

DDA, on the other hand, had told the court that change in land use was not possible as National Green Tribunal had prohibited construction in areas demarcated as zone ‘O’ (river and water-body area) and the site fell in such a zone.