The Delhi Development Authority had developed a huge number of flats in the Indian capital, and settled large sections of the capital (as per its mandate). However, experiences of people vary in terms of the customer-friendly nature of the Authority. For example, the Authority has been known to delay in handing over properties, land, and is famed for the level of corruption. Raids on its officers have always managed to net people involved in corruption, and it is common knowledge that getting a file to move in the DDA headquarters is a fairly difficult task. So, it is not uncommon to hear of people, even though they have been allotted a flat by the DDA, facing huge amounts of problems in actually getting the paperwork and physical allocation. It is to solve such problems that people are increasingly taking the help of instruments such as consumer forums and courts, and these institutions are indeed helping out people (link to article):
NEW DELHI: The National Consumer Commission has held the DDA guilty of causing mental agony to a woman who was not handed over possession of a flat for nine years and asked it to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation. The Commission, comprising Justice R C Jain and member Anupam Dasgupta, also asked the housing agency to pay interest to allottee Prabhati at the rate of 15% on Rs 8.59 lakh for the period between 1998 to 2005.
“In the facts and circumstances of the case, we hold that the delays in issuing the letter of possession of the flat and in delivering its possession are instances of gross misfeasance in the DDA,” the Commission said, adding that it was an “inexplicable and deliberate” delay by the authority. The panel passed the order on DDA’s plea challenging the Delhi Consumer Commission’s direction to it, asking the agency to pay the allottee Rs 50,000 compensation and Rs 2,500 cost.
This is not the first time such a judgment has been passed on the DDA, which has been held guilty in many previous such cases of causing agony to people who have been successful in winning flats, and then being forced to wait for long periods before getting possession. And yet a systematic cleanup of the DDA does not seem like a possibility, given the vested interests involved.