Court puts brakes on Metro flats near DU

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the DDA and the DMRC not to go ahead with the construction of a multi-storied housing society on plots acquired from the University of Delhi for the construction of Vishwavidyalaya Metro station.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the DDA and the DMRC not to go ahead with the construction of a multi-storied housing society on plots acquired from the University of Delhi for the construction of Vishwavidyalaya Metro station.

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“Status quo to be maintained till further orders,” justice Hima Kohli said in an interim order on a petition of the university, which had leased the plots to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The university has alleged that DMRC further leased out some portion of the land near the parking area at the station to a private builder for constructing a multi-storied residential group housing society, even though this act was contrary to the mandate of the Master Plan Delhi-2021.

Senior advocate Parag Tripathi and advocate Tanuj Khurana, appearing for the university, said that three hectares of land was acquired by DMRC for setting up the Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS).

But now, under the garb of generating resources, they had allotted a portion of it to private builder, Young Builders (P) Limited.

Tripathi said that this was in violation of the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 provisions and the development control norms for metro stations contained in it.

Delhi University had moved the high court challenging DDA’s May 12, 2011 decision that allowed Young Builders (P) Limited to construct a high rise multi-story group housing society on a portion of the land leased out to DMRC for the metro station and demanded its quashing.