Delhi Waqf Board properties in Lutyens' zone under HC scrutiny

The fate of 123 properties, most of them in Lutyens’ zone, which were handed over to Delhi Waqf Board in 2014 by the outgoing UPA government, has come under scrutiny of the high court. In August this year, the NDA government formed a two-member panel to examine and decide the ownership claims of these properties spread in and around Mathura Road, Ashoka Road, Karol Bagh, Jangpura, Lodhi Road etc, after the earlier decision to hand over these plots to Waqf Board was put on hold. Next month, the Centre is likely to inform HC about the progress made in determining the ownership, which are claimed by land owning agencies such as DDA and L&DO on the one hand and Delhi Waqf Board on the other. Recently, a bench of Justices RajendraMenon and V K Rao asked the government to “apprise this court as to what action has been taken by the committee, what is its stage of deliberation and by what time it will submit its report to the competent authority.” Currently, 61 of 123 properties are owned by the Land and Development Office attached to the ministry of urban development, while the rest are with DDA. A committee comprising Ravinder Kaur, a former judge and Usha Raman Tripathi, a retired IAS officer, has to take the final call. HC’s poser came on a PIL filed by a Residents Welfare Association highlighting the inaction on the part of authorities, including Delhi Waqf Board and other civic agencies in removing encroachment/unauthorised construction on public land situated contiguous to the Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. On behalf of the RWA, advocate M Sufian Siddiqui pointed out that encroachment on the land in question has remained in violation of HC’s earlier orders.