PWD says gate, wall near Ashram flyover illegal

An affidavit by the public works department, submitted in Delhi High Court, has once again said that the private gates adjacent to the Ashram flyover were an encroachment on government land.

An affidavit by the public works department, submitted in Delhi High Court, has once again said that the private gates adjacent to the Ashram flyover were an encroachment on government land.

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A bench of justice Vikramjit Sen and justice GP Mittal will hear the PWD affidavit on Wednesday.

The affidavit gives hope to residents of Friends Colony (West) and Hari Nagar in south Delhi, as the gates and a boundary wall have forced the residents to take long tiresome detours to go to work and to get back home.

The PIL alleged that owners of a marble company, Analco Marketing, and a private residential complex (Anil Kejriwal) closed the lane by putting up gates and use it as their personal driveway.

In a previous affidavit on November 29, PWD executive engineer ID Yadav stated: “A letter dated June 7, 2002, was written by PWD to SHO Sreenivaspuri regarding unauthorised construction and construction of boundary wall on government land… On enquiry it revealed, those persons were … encroaching upon government land by filling pit with soil and constructing a boundary wall. There was a road in existence via Friends Colony which had been blocked by raising a boundary wall.”

The affidavit also admitted that a road existed since 1982.

In defence, Analco said they obtained a lower-court injunction in 1988, and it is still in force. “Therefore, any step to dispossess us of the land amounts to contempt of court," they contended.

Kejriwal's lawyer denied the allegations and said, “The land on which the gate has been erected was not part of the land acquired by the government.”