Allot land to disabled on concession: HC to Govt

The court has ordered the DDA and the Centre to come up with a scheme offering land to disabled on concessions.

The Delhi High Court has ordered the Centre and the Delhi Development Authority to notify a scheme for allotment of land and plots on concession to persons with physical disabilities.

HT Image

Justice Pradeep Nandrajog asked the two respondents to file a compliance report with affidavits before the next date of hearing and posted the matter for July 14, 2006.

The directions were issued on a petition filed by a physically handicapped woman, Sarita Sinha, alleging that the authorities were refusing to allot land at reduced rates, which violates the Constitutional guarantee accorded to disabled persons in this regard.

In her petition filed through counsel Ashok Aggarwal, Sarita complained that though the Disabilities (Equal Opportunities) Act, 1958, made it mandatory for the government to allot land/plots at concessional rates, the authorities were unwilling to comply with the provisions.

Counsel for the government Sangeeta Chandra admitted that the DDA only had a policy for reserving flats for the physically handicapped, but no concessions in rates were being accorded to such persons.

Following this, the court ordered that the DDA and the Centre should "put their heads together" and notify a scheme which must contain provisions for allotment of land and plots at concessions for the disabled.