All at sea over unauthorised colonies

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, JAN. 13. The submission of the Delhi Government before the Delhi High Court that it had no knowledge of the policy of the Central Government on regularisation of unauthorised colonies has caused many eyebrows to be raised. It has once again highlighted the confused approach of the Government and its attempts to subvert the law by coming up with vague explanations.

What is surprising is that it was the Sheila Dixit Government which had convened a special session of the Delhi Assembly on August 12 to discuss the issue of unauthorised colonies and opposed the policy announced by the Centre. Similarly, it was the same Government and its party which even approached the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, on the issue. But now it has suddenly done a u-turn and pleaded that it had no knowledge about the Union Government's policy on the issue.

It was in July this year that the Union Cabinet passed a policy for regularisation of 1.072 unauthorised colonies after payment of penalty and development charges which were on the higher side. The Congress(I) party and the Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dixit, had strongly reacted to the situation and had demanded that the new policy was not acceptable and it would not accept anything less than the 1976-77 policy of the Indira Gandhi Government on the regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

It is no secret that the Delhi Government had time and again faltered on the issue of unauthorised colonies. The State Government had raised a hue and cry that it was not consulted on the issue by the Union Urban Development Ministry. But much to the embarrassment of the Delhi Urban Development Minister, Dr. A.K. Walia, and the Chief Minister, it was revealed that the Principal Secretary (Urban Development), Delhi Government, Ms. Suman Swaroop, had on the instructions of the Lieutenant- Governor, Mr. Vijai Kapoor, written a letter to the Union Government, accepting its policy.

Sensing the political sensitivity of the matter and the implications of its own silly mistakes, the Delhi Chief Minister, summoned a special session of the Assembly where the issue was discussed threadbare and a resolution was also passed which asked the Central Government to regularise all the unauthorised colonies that had come up till 1998 in accordance with the policy laid by the Indira Gandhi Government in 1976-77. The matter was also taken up by the Chief Minister, her Urban Development Minister and the Congress(I) party with Mr. Jagmohan.

Interestingly, Dr. Walia also went personally to the High Court to inform that it did not agree with the Centre's policy and there was a need to arrive at a consensus. But this sudden change in stand of the Delhi Government could further complicate matters. Not only this, this is being seen in political circles as delaying tactics being adopted by the State Government which has already been pushed to the wall on the issue of closure of industries and introduction of CNG vehicles. ``Our hands are already full of various problems. The courts are issuing directions in various cases. Any adverse decision in the case of regularisation of unauthorised colonies could land the State Government in big trouble. So it has been decided to delay the matter in the court by seeking the policy document'', stated a senior government official.

It is also felt that if the real facts are brought before the court during the next hearing by the Union Urban Development Ministry, it would reflect badly on the government and show it in poor light.

On the other hand, the Government has been at its wits end to deal with the emerging situation. The urgency to meet the various deadlines set by the courts coupled with monitoring the implementation of these decisions has taken a heavy toll on the day to day administrative work. ``It seems the Government is struggling to implement the court decisions. In the process, all development work has come to a standstill and things are not moving at the pace they should be. The authorities will have to get out of this ``court phobia'' and get on with implementation of the people's agenda.

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