UD secy to lose car, AC, phone after court order

A Delhi court has ordered attachment of all the official belongings of ministry of urban development secretary for failure to comply with its order in a 52-year-old land dispute.

A Delhi court has ordered attachment of all the official belongings of ministry of urban development secretary for failure to comply with its order in a 52-year-old land dispute.

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The order seeks to divest the secretary, Sudhir Krishna, of his official car, AC, computer and telephone.

The case relates to alleged encroachment of 300-square-yard land belonging to Harbans Sood and Heera Sood in north Delhi’s Dhakka village by Delhi University (DU).

The court had in March, 2011 ordered the government to provide an alternative piece of land of equal size to Sood brothers.

Senior judge Ajay Kumar Pandey issued the attachment warrant on October 16, 2012. The order is to be executed by November 12, 2012.

The brothers, had purchased the land in 1960, but they never got its possession. After waiting for 13 years, they filed a civil suit in 1973. After demarcation, it was found that the plot was in the territory of Dhakka village — located near the DU’s north campus, and the university had used for its campus facilities.

The Centre told the court that the land was transferred in 1989 to Delhi government, which further allocated it to DU and that the Centre had no jurisdiction over it.

Rejecting the government’s claim, the judge said: “This is no ground for non execution of decree….the judgment debtor no.1 (Urban Development Ministry) has to provide an alternative plot …”