Pay Rs 40 lakh for occupying Lodi-era monument: SC to Defence Colony RWA

Built during the late 14th or early 15th century of the Lodi era, not much information has been documented on the octagonal structure. During the 1990s, the building underwent a significant transformation — not a carefully planned restoration but a ‘modern’ one to house the office of the DCWA.

The counsel appearing for the RWA said the colony was established as a society for defence personnel and, at least in the initial years, it was totally inhabited by Army officers and their families and the composition of the residents has changed over the last many years.

The court said, “This consideration we have kept in our mind and for this reason, we are taking a lenient view on the compensation to be paid, but considering that 1,600 plots (4,000 units) have already been constructed, we quantify the compensation as Rs 40 lakh…”

The counsel submitted that this amount shall be recovered from funds collected from the residents.

Additional Solicitor General S D Sanjay, appearing for the government, said the rest of the amount needed for conservation and restoration of the monument shall be funded by the Government of India and the Government of NCT of Delhi equally.

The SC bench was hearing a petition filed by Defence Colony resident Rajiv Suri, seeking its intervention to declare the structure as a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958. He had initially approached the Delhi High Court, which declined to intervene.

Hearing the plea in August last year, the SC had asked the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry to find out how it came to be occupied by the DCWA. Perusing the report, the court had pulled up the Association and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) over the alleged encroachments.

In November, the Supreme Court slammed both the DCWA and the ASI. “How dare you (DCWA) enter this? How dare you?” a livid bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah had said.

On Tuesday, ASG Sanjay told the bench that the land belongs to the Union of India.

Taking note, the court said, “For all effective purposes, we direct that the land be handed over to the Union of India through the Land & Development Officer (L&DO) within one week from today. The L&DO will, in turn, give ingress and egress facility to the Department of Archeology, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, which has been given the responsibility for conservation and restoration of the monument so that no hindrance is put on their work in any manner.”

The bench also directed that the L&DO, in the meanwhile, remove all encroachments and ensure that no parking is permitted in that area henceforth. It further asked the officer to file an affidavit appraising the court about the action taken within a week.

Suri’s plea referred to several historical records and said the structure found a mention in a survey of Delhi monuments conducted in 1920 by Maulvi Zafar Hasan, a British-era archaeologist.