A view of Delhi High Court
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Delhi High Court on Thursday (February 6, 2025) asked the Centre to decide on the regularisation of south Delhi’s Sainik Farms colony saying the “fate of the colony has to be decided”.
The court, while dealing with petitions, including one filed in 2015, for the colony’s regularisation, said the matter could not be kept pending and asked the Centre’s counsel to take “complete instructions”.
“You seek instruction from the government of India on what it has done. Why should such a matter be kept pending? The fate of the colony has to be decided. We can’t permit it to go on and on like this. You have to take a decision,” it said.
Following its previous orders, the court said the Centre filed an affidavit without disclosing any decision on the regularisation and only saying a “policy decision” had to be taken.
“We have already expressed concern (in earlier orders) that the matter has been pending for a fairly long time and accordingly we expect the Union of India to come forth with a policy decision at the earliest,” it ordered.
The court posted the hearing in March while asking the authorities to come up with a solution. “Constructions are going on. Colonies after colonies have come up..It is because of your inaction, laxity or connivance,” it said.
The court went on to add, “Why did you allow such construction to come up if the land was agricultural? You are responsible. These are war widows. You have to find some solution.”
The petitioners urged the court to pass an order allowing them to carry out repairs in their properties. The court asked the Centre’s counsel to seek instructions on this aspect.
The Centre’s affidavit filed earlier said it took a conscious decision to not get into the regularisation of illegal colonies that were categorised as affluent colonies, like Sainik Farms, and it was presently focusing on the redevelopment work of the 1,797 unauthorised colonies.
Published – February 07, 2025 10:35 am IST