Notice to Centre for dessolution of DDA

New Delhi, May 26 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today issued notices to the Centre and others on a PIL seeking dissolution of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the land-owning agency of in the Capital, on the ground that its existence was 'unconstitutional'.

A division bench headed by the acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain asked the respondents to file their replies by October 7, the next date of hearing.

The petition filed by society for safe structures claimed that the very existence of the DDA had become infructuous in the wake of the 74th constitutional amendment, which empowered panchayats and local municipalities to frame building by-laws and development plans.

The notices also have been issued to Ministry of Home Affairs and Urban Development, Delhi Government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), DDA, and New Delhi Municipal Council.

Since 1959, it is not MCD and NDMC (local municipal bodies) but the DDA who had been approving and sanctioning building plans and granting permission for erection of buildings in development areas contrary to the constitutional amendment.

The application sought direction to the respondents to restore and enforce the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, for regulating construction and use of buildings for proper, safe and secure urban environment as a part of the constitutional duties of the municipalities mandated under the Article 243 and Scedule XII of the Constitution.

UNI PAT VJ PC1926