DTCP issues directions to seal, vacate 11 properties in Palam Vihar

DTCP orders eviction and sealing of 11 Palam Vihar houses for illegal construction, disconnecting utilities and banning property transactions.

The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) on Thursday ordered the eviction of occupiers and sealing of 11 houses in Block C-2 of Palam Vihar for violating urban development laws and building norms, officials said.

DTCP officials said the area’s resident welfare association (RWA) had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, submitting that DTCP had approved building plans

According to DTCP officials, directions have also been issued to disconnect electricity and water supplies to these properties and to ban the registration of sale and purchase of flats on these plots. While rules permit only up to four floors per plot, developers constructed 12 to 16 floors, and have already sold several of them, officials said.

“Directions have been issued to seal 11 properties in the area. These properties will be vacated and subsequently sealed. Their water and electricity connections will also be disconnected,” said district town planner (enforcement) Amit Madholia.

According to department rules, a plot owner can build four storeys and a stilt floor on a plot exceeding 180 square yards. Also, only a single floor (residential unit) can be registered on one floor and it cannot be subdivided into a flat.

DTCP officials said the area’s resident welfare association (RWA) had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, submitting that DTCP had approved building plans — and subsequently issued occupancy certificates — for plots intended to house four families per property. However, the plot owners, in collusion with property dealers, constructed between 16 and 24 flats within a single plot. They even constructed and sold flats within the designated stilt parking areas, they said.

The RWA added that excess construction has strained basic amenities, such as water, electricity, and sewage systems, and the parking situation has also significantly deteriorated.

Subsequently, the high court directed the RWA on May 2, 2025, to submit a fresh complaint to the DTCP. A formal complaint was lodged on July 10 last year, and a hearing was held on March 13, 2026, during which the RWA submitted the issues residents faced due to illegal construction.

A senior DTCP official said that legal cases have already been registered against the plot owners for violations and five of these properties were also sealed between 2022 and 2024, however, the dealers continued construction.

“Apart from sealing these properties, the department has also recommended that a probe into the registration of these flats should be conducted. The occupancy certificates of these properties will also be revoked,” he added.