The Supreme Court cracked down hard on Tuesday, sending a flurry of notices to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the Delhi Government, the DDA, and the MCD, demanding they explain why affluent illegal colonies are being quietly shielded under the cover of legislation.
At the heart of the storm are posh, unauthorized enclaves like Sainik Farms, Anant Ram Dairy, Defence Services Enclave, Anupam Gardens, Freedom Fighters Enclave, Bhavani Kunj, and Rajokri Enclave — addresses that read like a who’s who of Delhi’s power circles, home to politicians, tycoons, bureaucrats, and retired military brass.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan gave the Centre and local bodies two months to file affidavits defending the protection of these plush illegal constructions. The Court made it clear: shielding slum dwellers might be an act of compassion — but pampering the elite’s illegal sprawl was a very different story.
The hearing sprang from a petition spotlighting illegalities in colonies like Shri Sai Kunj in Vasant Kunj. The Court’s frustration was palpable. It warned that repeated legislative somersaults to “regularize” affluent illegal colonies smelled suspiciously like attempts to dodge court-mandated demolitions.
“Our attention is drawn to a disturbing trend — not just compassion for the underprivileged but calculated regularisation efforts for the affluent,” the Bench said. It pointed to a raft of laws and regulations seemingly tailored to legitimize these wealthy encroachments.
The trigger for the latest confrontation was a fresh status report from the MCD, following orders in the decades-old MC Mehta vs Union of India case. The MCD revealed that in Shri Sai Kunj, out of 126 flats, only 10 were protected under the 2014 Special Provisions Act. The rest — 116 flats — stood on shaky legal ground. Shockingly, notices had been served to just 28 of them, while the other 88 flats were still waiting for basic legal action.
Even more damning, the MCD leaned on the PM-UDAY Scheme to justify inaction — a scheme that, as the Court pointed out sharply, explicitly excludes affluent colonies like Shri Sai Kunj (listed at No. 43 in the banned list).
“First, there’s no mention of PM-UDAY applicable here. Second, Regulation 7 clearly excludes affluent colonies,” the Court snapped, questioning how the MCD could brazenly cite a scheme it knew did not apply. It ordered that notices for illegal flats be issued within a week — no more dragging of feet.
Senior advocate S. Guru Krishna Kumar, appearing as Amicus Curiae, didn’t mince words either. “You can’t have a city built on unauthorized constructions being magically regularized. It’s a civic disaster,” he warned.
The Court was firm: regularising illegal luxury colonies wrecks urban planning, buckles civic infrastructure, and lets privilege bulldoze accountability.
