HC directs Centre,state to draw map of Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) In order to remove any confusion over the ownership of land, the Delhi High Court today directed both Central and Delhi Governments to conduct a survey and draw a map to prevent further encroachments in the Capital.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma asked the Delhi Chief Secretary and Secretary Union Urban Development Ministry to sit together to evolve a method to scrutinise the land records and draw a concrete map, otherwise valuable land would be lost to encroachers and land mafia.

''Due to confusion over the ownership of land as there are several land owning agencies -- Delhi Development Authority(DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council(NDMC), Land and Development Office(L&DO), Cantonment Board and Directorate of Industries--, the land mafia are taking advantage and encroaching upon valuable land,'' said the lengthy order.

The Court said a committee should be formed with representatives from the land owning agencies to codify the records at the earliest.

Directing the Delhi Chief Secretary to file a report by October 5, the next date of hearing, the Court observed valuable land had been acquired by the government agencies by spending a huge sum of public money and left unattended.

The authorities did not have the record on the land leaving enough scope for the land mafia to encroach the land in connivance with the corrupt officials, said the court.

When there was a court direction, one land owning agency was passing the buck to another saying the land did not belong to them, the court remarked.

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