DDA petitions the HC to overturn the stay on the apartment demolition.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Development Authority filed an application with the high court on Friday, attempting to lift the stay placed on its proposal to destroy the north Delhi neighborhood’s Signature View Apartments.

Responding to a plea filed by nine Mukherjee Nagar apartment dwellers, the Delhi High Court last month mandated that DDA refrain from using any form of coercion against the people who have objected to the authority’s unilateral action. The subject was scheduled for the court’s next hearing in February.

The DDA requested that the HC revoke its order in an application, noting that the RWA of Signature View Apartments has not appealed the DDA’s ruling or gone to court.

According to DDA, SVA is currently unsafe for habitation and poses a threat to life. “The present use aims to facilitate the immediate evacuation of the risky towers of SVA so that the entire process of demolition and the reconstruction is initiated at the earliest to safeguard the safety of all residents to safeguard their rehabilitation,” DDA stated.

The authority stated that to guarantee that all inhabitants leave their apartments, it had set aside November 30 as the evacuation date. It also planned to turn off the water and electricity supply on the same day, but those plans have been postponed because of a stay order granted in favor of nine petitioner tenants who filed a court case.

DDA said that a small number of petitioners do not speak for the 336 apartment owners at SVA who are under “imminent threat if the entire premises is not vacated at the earliest” and urged the HC to move up the hearing date.

The court subsequently postponed the hearing until next month, asking the land-owning agency to submit its proposal in the form of an affidavit. We need a copy of the order.

The Union Urban Development Ministry, the DDA, and the LG received notice from the HC in November on the plea that residents must be involved in decision-making. It also requested a reconstruction plan to be overseen by the court.