Colony regularisation: Delhi Lokayukta slams Dikshit's 'poll gimmick'

In his last judgment before retiring, Delhi Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin has ruled that regularisation of colonies in 2008 by the Delhi government was done for political mileage. Justice Sarin issued the order on a complaint filed by BJP chief ministerial candidate, Dr Harsh Vardhan against incumbent Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Vardhan alleged that Sheila Dikshit had misled the public and misused her power while issuing provisional regularisation certificates to unauthorised colonies in 2008. [caption id=“attachment_1211979” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. PTI[/caption] Justice Sarin orally observed, “the present case is not a new issue, if the intention of the respondent (Sheila Dikshit) was clear, steps would have been taken and authorities would have been approached to do the needfull, regularisation becomes an issue before every election, the issue is as old as 2001.” Vardhan had alleged the colonies were certified without putting any basic infrastructure in place. He alleged the exercise was an electoral gimmick for political gains. The petition also said that colonies or parts of colonies falling in notified or reserved forest areas cannot be regularised. In 2010, a complaint was filed before the Lokayukta’s court and notices were issued to Dikshit and the Delhi government in October the same year. The issue of grant of provisional certificates to unauthorised colonies under a scheme brought out by Delhi government before assembly election in 2008 has been mired in controversy ever since the issue of non existent colonies came to light. Delhi government had issued provisional regualarisation certificates to over 1218 unauthorised colonies ahead of assembly polls in 2008, it had plans to authorise 1639 colonies in Delhi. The unauthorised colonies, home to around 40 lakh people, are considered to be the traditional vote bank of Congress. In subsequent hearings, the Lokayukta observed, “it needs to be examined whether there was any urgency to issue provisional regularisation certificates to all the unauthorised colonies, of which 143 - admittedly - could not be regularised at all.” Justice Sarin added, “scrutiny of materials provided by both the parties gave rise to questions on whether the move was actuated by an improper motive or personal interest, and if there was any violation of the norms of integrity and conduct.” He also recommended to President Pranab Mukherjee that an advisory be issued on announcements made by ruling parties in states just before elections.