22 yrs on, children of Partition refugee declared owners of mother’s house

The case pertains to Kailashwati Dhall, who came to India after the Partition, and was allotted a flat in Motia Khan. Since the DDA wanted to reconstruct the area, it allotted alternative flats to all Partition refugees. Dhall was given a flat on Lawrence Road and no-objection certificates for electricity and water connections were issued.

As asked, Dhall paid Rs 12,000 registration money for securing the alternative allotment and was handed over possession of the flat in 1986. However, no demand-cum-allotment letter was issued. An undated letter, put on record by the DDA, mentioned the value of the flat to be Rs 1.05 lakh as on May 30, 1992.

When Dhall died in 2006, her son V P Dhall and daughter Kamlesh approached DDA for mutation of the flat in their names.

“Since 1992, they had been writing to the DDA enquiring where they had to deposit the money and the terms of payment. But they received no reply,” judicial member N P Kaushik said.

Finally, in 2009, the DDA responded to the Dhalls. It demanded that they pay Rs 32.28 lakh for allowing mutation in their favour.

Contending that the allottees did not pay the initial amount of Rs 1.05 lakh, the DDA said they were liable to pay Rs 32.28 lakh.

Noting that DDA did not have any written communication with Dhall or her successor until 2009 and even the letter sent before merely informed her of the valuation of her property, Kaushik said DDA never disclosed the time schedule for payment.

Ordering that the DDA was not entitled to Rs 32.28 lakh, Kaushik directed the Dhalls to pay Rs 93,000.