NETAJI SUBASH PLACE TRADERS WELFARE ASSOCIATES (REGD) THROUGH ITS PRESIDENT  Vs DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY THROUGH ITS VICE-CHAIRMAN & ORS

W.P.(C) 1820/2020 Page 1 of 8
$~J
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Reserved on: 1 9.01.2021
% Pronounced on: 25.01.2021

+ W.P. (C) 1820/2020 & CM APPL. 6325/2020, 25907/2020

NETAJI SUBASH PLACE TRADERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION (REGD) THROUGH ITS PRESIDENT … Petitioner
Through Mr.Mohit Mathur, Sr. Adv. with
Mr.Hemendra, Advs.
Versus
DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY THROUGH ITS VICE CHAIRMAN & ORS. … Respondents
Through Mr.Rajiv Bansal, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Dhanesh Relan, Standing Counsel
and Mr.Partiosh Dhawan, Advs.
Mr.Anuj Aggarwal, ASC with
Mr.Shikhar Sheel and Mr.Ayushi Bansal, Advs. for R -2 to R -5.
Ms.Mini Pushkarna, Standing Counsel with Ms.Khusboo Nahr and
Ms.Latika Malhotra, Advs. for R –
6/NDMC.

CORAM:
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT NATH
JAYANT NATH, J.
1. The present writ petition is filed by the petitioner Association seeking
to revoke the process of e -auction of the commercial plots No. G-2, G -4 and
plot No. G-1 at District Centre, Netaji Subhash Place, New Delhi. Reliefs
are also sought to issue an appropriate mandamus to the respondents to
provide detailed design of surface, multilevel parking and street parking CM No.6325 /2020
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facilities along with the indicative locations of pedestrian areas, vendors,
public amenities, toilets, gre en space, etc. and to follow the guidelines
framed by the new MPD -2021.
2. CM No. 6325/202 0 is filed by the petitioner seeking stay of the
operation of complete process of e -auction of the above noted commercial
plots through online bearing dated 17.02.2020 b y DDA till the pendency and
disposal of the writ petition.
3. On 19.02.2020, this court had passed the following order :-
“1. The petitioner association is aggrieved by the fact that
the subject plots are being put to auction without addressing
the problems of the traders and the occupants of the area vis.-a-
.vis. traffic.

2. Insofar as the DDA is concerned, it shall deal with the
pending representations of the petitioner association and the
occupants. For this purpose, DDA will invite the
representatives of the petitioner association and the
resident/occupants for hearing.
3. The DDA will also take inputs from the experts to ease
the traffic congestion in the subject area. In this behalf, the
experts will be called upon to give their opinion concerning not
only how to manage the traffic congestion in the subject area
as it obtains currently but also how it is to be managed in the
future as well given the increase in traffic density.

5. This exercise will be completed by the DDA within six
weeks from the r eceipt of a copy of this order. Pending this
exercise, while the auction process can go on, it will not be
confirmed without permission of the Court.
6. For the aforesaid purpose, the officers of the North
Delhi Municipal Corporation as well as Traffic D epartment of
Delhi Police can also be called by the DDA for providing their
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inputs.
……”

Hence the above order put a partial restraint on auction of the three
plots in question.
4. DDA has file d CM No. 2590 7/2020 stating that the directions issued
by this c ourt vide order dated 19.02.2020 have been complied with by DDA
as they have passed a speaking or der dated 11.09.2020. I t is stated that the
writ petition be dismissed and the interim order be vacated.
5. In the accompanying writ petition, it is stated that the petitioner
Association including the occupants and daily visitors of the said area are
facing problem of scarcity of parking space at the Netaji Subhash Place,
District Centre. The said area is extremely crowded with heavy footfalls of visitors on a r egular basis due to various small and large corporate offices,
MNCs, Banks, hospitals, etc. The parking system at Netaji Subhash Place is
not managed properly on account of small parking places due to which the
occupants/employees/clients/visitors suffer a lot. Representation s were sent
to DDA on 23.12.2010 and 05.05.2014.
6. It is further pleaded that despite such an alarming situation,
respondent No. 1 -DDA is bent upon making the auction of vacant
commercial plots to general public which may result into more impediments,
harm and congestion in the area. In fact, the respondent should have
considered to convert the said commercial plots into proper multilevel
parking lots or automated parking to accommodate the public at large to
park their vehicles. It is sta ted that on completion of the auction of the
commercial plots and upon further construction in the said area , the same
will lead to toxics fumes, chemicals and oils, et c. severely affecting air,
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water quality and public health. There is already a shortage of parking, lack
of water, green area, proper infrastructure, etc. The author ities should take a
decision after inviting proposals, representations and suggestions from the
area occupants, residents or traders.
7. The matter was heard on 03.11.2020 when this court passed the
following order :-
“I have heard learned senior counsel appearing for
respondent DDA in part. I have been taken through the
speaking order dated 11.09.2020 passed pursuant to the interim order of this court dated 19.02.2020.
In my opin ion, it would be appropriate that respondent
DDA place on record on affidavit the full picture/facts regarding parking area in question, namely, number of cars and
other vehicles that are expected, number of sites that are
available for such parking and their capacity to park vehicles and the impact of the auction of three new plots on the parking requirement within ten days from today. Rejoinder, if any, be filed within ten days thereafter .”

8. In respons e to the above order of this court dated 03.11.2020, DDA
has filed an additional affidavit dated 21.12.2020 encl osing an excel sheet
where the calculations and the requirement s of the parking lots have been
shown as per MPD 2021. Para 4 of the additional affidavit dated 21.12.2020
reads as follows: –
“4. I thus say that a short fall of 392 parking might have
occurred as per norms of 3 ECS due to (G -1, G -2 and G -4)
‘Change of use premise and partial modification in earlier approved Development Controls of plots/units G -1, G-2 & G -4
in District Centre Netaji S ubhash Place’, which have been put
for auction. I say that this shortfall can be addressed by converting the already existing surface parking into stack parking. It has been mentioned in the minutes of 378
th SCM
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that ‘the balance parking requirement shall be taken care of in
the pool/multilevel parking of District Centre’, can be taken up
subject to detail examination, feasibility and viability of the same. It is to be respectfully submitted that as per the available
Layout Plan of District Centre there are surface parking lots
(pool parking) located adjoining the boundary wall of District
Centre along Ring Road. These parking lots can be rearranged to increase the number of surface parking (ECS) with proposal of stack parking system, if required, to balance the shortfall of
parking occurred due to change of LOP of plots G -1, G -2 and
G-4.”

9. The excel sheet show s a deficienc y of, at best, 858 parking lots.
10. I have heard learned senior counsel for the petitioner and learned
senior counsel for the respondents .
11. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner has reiterated the
submissions stated in the writ petition. He has urged that the respondents
have illegally changed the development controls and lifted the height
restrictions. Earlier the area was a service -apartm ent plus commercial area
and now, the entire area has been conver ted into commercial without caring
for the facilit ies and infrastructure . Even the fire brigade can ’t move around ,
in case of an emergency if so required. It was posed to the learned senior
counsel for the petitioner as to what exactly is the illegality perpetuated by
DDA to warrant this court exercising powers to strike down the auction in
question. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner relies upon the D octrine
of Legitimate Expectation stating that t he residents /occupants of the
buildings in the said area expect some basic facilities as per normal
legitimate expectations.
12. Learned senior counsel for the respondent s reiterate s that they are
committed to provide adequate parking facilities and infrastructure. He has
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pointed out that there are 6 plots available for construction of multilevel car
parking . These will generate more than 1600 car parking units, if auctioned.
He assures th e court that these plots would be auctioned for multilevel
parking within approximately one month from today. Alternatively , he st ates
that DDA may decide to construct the said multilevel parking from its own
resources. In such an eventuality, the construction would commence within
3 to 4 months.
13. A perusal of the interim order dated 19.02.2020 would show that a
direction was passed to DDA to invite representations of the petitioner association and the residents and occupants for a hearing w hile dealing with
the pending representations of the petitioner association. DDA was also
directed to take inputs from the experts to ease the traffic congestion in the
subject area. The said entire exercise was to be completed within six weeks
from the receipt of a copy of the order dated 19.02.2020. Pending this
exercise, the a uction process was permitted to go on but the confirmation of
the auction could only take place with the permission of the court.
14. It is the case of the respondent s that the aforesaid exercise has taken
place and a speaking order has been passed on 11.09.2 020 on the
representations of the petitioner .
15. I may look at some of the relevant portions of the said speaking order
dated 11.09.2020. The same read as follows :-
“Whereas the respondent authority (DDA) has detailed
discussions/deliberations with the resp ective departments i.e.
Planning Department, Architect Department and Traffic Police
of Delhi on issue of parking /traffic highlight. It was pointed
out by Arch. Department that due to construction of Metro Rail
by DMRC adjoining boundary of Distt. Centre along -with Ring
Road was blocked, which was providing direct access to the
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Distt. Centre at its peripheral roads. To resolve problem of
traffic congestion at the entry/exit points and smooth vehicular
movement on outer ring road, part layout plan (modified layout
plan) of the Distt. Centre along ring road has been prepared
based on suggestions of Delhi Traffic police, PWD and DMRC,
which will address the above issue/problem. NOC to the
modified LOP/Part LOP has also been received from
Additional Commissione r of Police (Traffic) vide their letter dt.
04.12.2019.

xxx
After having been considered contentions of the petitioner
association vis- a—vis ground realities, request of petitioner as
made through the representation to stop public auction of three
vacant plots of Netaji Subhash Place Distt. Centre till more
parking space is created, has not merit, hence rejected
accordingly. ”

16. As the court was not satisfied with the above noted speaking order
dated 11.09.2020, this court had passed appropriate directions a s noted
above on 03.11.2020. The respondent have now filed an additional affidavit
dated 21.12.2020 pursuant to the aforesaid order of this court dated
03.11.2020. The r elevant portion of the additional affidavit reads as
follows: –
“4. I thus say that a short fall of 392 parking might have
occurred as per norms of 3 ECS due to (G -1, G -2 and G -4)
‘Change of use premise and partial modification in earlier
approved Development Controls of plots/units G -1, G-2 & G -4
in District Centre Netaji Subhash Place’, which have been put for auction. I say that this shortfall can be addressed by converting the already existing surface parking into stack parking. It has been mentioned in the minutes of 378
th SCM
that ‘the balance parking requirement shall be taken care of in the pool/multilevel parking of District Centre’, can be taken up subject to detail examination, feasibility and viability of the
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same. It is to be respectfully submitted that as per the available
Layout Plan of District Centre there are surface parking lots
(pool parking) located adjoining the boundary wall of District Centre along Ring Road. These parking lots can be rearranged
to increase the number of surface parking (ECS) with proposal
of stack parking system, if required, to balance the shortfall of
parking occurred due to change of LOP of plots G -1, G -2 and
G-4.”

17. In addition, learned senior counsel for the respondent s has assured
that the issue of parking would be properly tackled. He has assured that
there are six plots which will be auctioned wit hin one month which will be
used for multilevel parking. If for some reason DDA decide s to construct the
said multilevel parking on its own, an appropriate project would commence
within three to four months. In my opinion, it is manifest that the
responde nts have assured the court that they will take meaningful measures
to resolve the issue of parking. I bind DDA to the submissions made in
court and also to the above noted contents of the additional affidavit dated
21.12.2020 filed by DDA . DDA will abide by the same.
18. As steps are being taken by DDA, no purpose is served by continuing
the interim order dated 19.02.2020. This is especially so , as the plots in
question have already been auctioned and the process is a waiting
finalization/confirmation from this court fo r completion of the auction
process. Accordingly , the interim order dated 19.02.2020 is vacated.
19. DDA will file a status report regarding the directions passed today
within eight (8) weeks from today.
20. The application stands disposed of.

JAYANT NATH, J
JANUARY 25, 2021 /rb
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