The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the demolition drive to remove encroachment from Tughlakabad area in South Delhi. However, the court agreed to consider the matter as the first item tomorrow.
The Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh sought the response of the Central Government, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
According to reports, the case was first mentioned Monday morning by Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves before Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who then asked the petitioners to mention the case before Justice Khanna's bench.
According to Bar and Bench, the senior counsel then informed Justice Khanna's bench that many years ago, areas surrounding the Tuglakabad Fort were ordered to be cleared and the Delhi government had offered alternate rehabilitation for the residents. However, relocation has not been done yet, he said.
The bench remarked that there was a lot of unauthorised encroachment in the area.
It was also observed that under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, it was now difficult to acquire so much land due to the amount of compensation needed, the legal new site reported.
"It might be impossible to give so much land. And the amount of compensation needed under the 2013 act, it is now very difficult to acquire so much", the Court remarked.