Letter, Court Matter; DDA wants govt watchdogs in schools (10/04/05)

Letter to ask about compliance of court order and for meeting of schools and authorities (both responsible for violations) with communities to agree a plan for rectification of illegalities and future monitoring 

DDA Vice Chairman

Sub: Order of 27/10/04 in WP 8954-59/2003 and CM 3703/2005 in WP 15436-39/2004

Ref: News item titled “DDA wants govt watchdog in schools”1, Express Newsline, 09/04/05, and our letter of 22/03/052

Sir,

According to the news item under reference, DDA has written to GNCTD about clause 19 of land allotment rules for schools, viz, “Delhi Administration will have two nominees on the governing general body of the society”. Obviously GNCTD has not been acting as per this condition. Now DDA officials are curiously quoted saying that if schools fail to comply DDA will cancel their allotment. DDA officials are also connecting this clause to monitoring the free-seats condition. (The free seats PIL advocate / NGO is quoted saying they are getting calls from the underprivileged. Mercifully, they have not suggested they be appointed to governing bodies of schools to monitor land allotment conditions).

Please permit us to recall to that it is mandatory for DDA to monitor implementation of Master Plan schemes and policies and while it has powers to, say, cancel allotments for non-compliance of one or more lease conditions, it has even more the responsibility to ensure that larger Plan schemes of which these conditions are merely a small part are not subverted by authorities or activists.

Please permit us to further recall to you that in WP 8954-59/2003 DDA had argued that GNCTD’s illegal recommendations and upgradation permissions are responsible for the substantive violations on school sites, against which action by DDA in 12 weeks was directed in Order of 27/10/04. As also contended in the PIL, it is these illegalities that stand in the way of the statutory Plan scheme for equal access neighbourhood schooling (of which the free seats condition is only a small part) and enforcing the free seats condition in isolation from its statutory context is neither feasible nor tenable in law and progressive rectification of illegalities is an imperative not only of the statutory Delhi Master Plan regime but also of the longest standing constitutional commitment for universaling education.

So far only certain schools and GNCTD (helped along by certain sections of so-called civil society) had seemed very keen to divert attention from illegalities requiring rectification by positing alternative pragmatic “schemes” (cf, our letter under reference about the clutch of matters including WP 15436-39/2004 in which we have filed above-mentioned application for intervention). By writing to GNCTD about Clause-19 rather than about its policies in violation of the Plan (on heels of non-compliance of Order of 27/10/04 in WP 8954-59/2003) DDA seems to have joined this pursuit.

We now request, also for essential clarification in view of Public Notice for DMP2021 having been issued on 08/04/05, the following from DDA:

  • (a) Information of steps taken for compliance of Order of 27/10/04, especially apropos GNCTD violation of land allotment conditions through illegal upgradation permissions, etc
  • (b) Basis for, in effect, delegating monitoring responsibilities for select land allotment conditions to GNCTD under the garb of lease condition about its nominees
  • (c) Arranging of (or asking GNCTD to arrange) a meeting of primary stakeholders in neighbourhood schooling in Vasant Kunj area for enabling rectification of violations and future monitoring of land allotment conditions.

Yours sincerely

sd/-

Gita Dewan Verma, MPISG Planner

cc:

ADE(Act), DoE, GNCTD wrt to our telecon re your No.F/DE/15/ACT/2005/PM/5631 of 29/03/05

To support planned development. To oppose unplanned development. To protect our future.