DDA blinks on sale of Games Village flats

The Delhi Development Authority informs the Delhi High Court through an affidavit that they had not taken any decision regarding the sale of the flats, reports Harish V Nair.

Those planning to book a posh flat being built at the Commonwealth Games Village near Akshardham temple will have to wait.

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The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Friday informed the Delhi High Court through an affidavit that they had not taken any decision regarding the sale of the flats. “No decision has been taken yet. How can we do it when the matter is pending in the court? The talk of commencement of bookings from March 2008 was a media creation,” the DDA counsel told a bench of Justices AK Sikri and Rekha Sharma, hearing a petition filed by ecologists challenging constructions on the riverbed.

“There was no occasion for any officer of the DDA to make any comment regarding the sale of flats or the price thereof and no such comments was made…. In any event, neither the infrastructure developer nor the DDA can handover the possession of the flats till the completion of the games on October 2010,” said the affidavit filed by DDA Chief Engineer Shekhar Dey.

The explanation comes two days after the DDA came under fire from the court for showing “tearing hurry” to sell flats at a time when the matter was sub judice and the court was yet to take a decision on whether to at all allow construction of flats.

The DDA had on January 27 had taken a press team to the construction site. A sample house was shown to them and projected as a prime residential accommodation after the games.

But on January 29, the court, after perusing three newspaper reports which said the DDA will commence booking for the flats in March 2008, asked DDA counsel: “How can you invite a buyer when the court is hearing the matter? We are on the propriety of your action. Is there a question of sale of the flats before the game? ”