The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the Centre and the Delhi government should iron out the issue of regularisation of Sainik Farm colony in south Delhi and asked the authorities to sit together.
Observing neither was there a demolition action nor legalisation of the colony, a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela sought the assistance of the additional solicitor general and the Delhi government standing counsel.
"Matter is oscillating between the Centre and the state. We can't permit this to go on and on. You have to take a policy decision. We are not saying what to do. Either regularise or don't.... (but) You are just dragging. Hume na karna pade, court kar de (let's not do it, let court do it).. All of you sit together and find a solution, that is what we propose," the bench said.
It is hearing pleas, including one filed in 2015, on the colony's regularisation.
"What we prima facie find is that the concern raised in the writ petitions needs to be addressed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development of government of India, government of NCT of Delhi and the MCD," the court said.
The court posted the hearing on April 16 and asked the respective lawyers to seek instructions on the matter.
The court previously asked the Centre to take a decision on the issue of regularisation of the colony.
The Centre's counsel on Wednesday said the status quo, in relation to the colony, should continue as it was an "affluent" neighbourhood and neither repairs nor demolition could be permitted there.
The counsel appearing for one of the petitioners urged the court to allow repairs in the meantime.
The court, however, asked to observe the "larger picture" and said it could not permit a party to "keep on repairing without any sanction".
The houses, the bench said, allegedly came up in derogation of the law but since the colony had been around for so long, the authorities were expected to take a decision.
A policy could be framed and the regulations could be amended or development charges could be collected from its residents, if there was a will, the court added.
"Unnecessarily these litigations are going on. They are living in fear.. if you want, we will put you together in a mediation centre," the court said.
The Centre, in an affidavit, said it took a conscious decision to not get into the regularisation of illegal colonies that were categorised as affluent colonies such as Sainik Farm and it was presently focusing on the re-development work of the 1,797 unauthorised colonies, sub-divided into two classes.
Constructions raised in the affluent colonies like Sainik Farm are protected by law upto December 2023, it added.
In April 2022, while hearing the plea by Ramesh Dugar -- convener of the area development committee at Sainik Farm, for regularisation of the colonies in the area, the high court said it was "high time" that the issue of regularisation of Sainik Farms was "resolved once and for all".
It said the authorities should take a decision and not keep the pot boiling indefinitely.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
