Court has given one last chance to the airport authority to finish the much-delayed project before initiating contempt proceedings
The Delhi High Court (HC) has pulled up the Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL) for the delay in construction of a road near the airport and directed them to construct it within four weeks.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Harishankar gave one last chance to DIAL to complete the construction and did not issue contempt proceedings against it, after the petitioner's counsel submitted that it included the needs of residents.
The court said the public interest has been gravely prejudiced as a road that DIAL was bound to construct has not been constructed. "There is undoubtedly deprivation of necessary amenities to road users. This deprivation of public interest cannot be compensated in monetary terms," the court said in its order.
The Bench also stated that in case the road is not constructed within the stipulated time, the DIAL Managing Director will remain personally present in the court on the next date of hearing — November 2.
According to an order dated September 14, 2007, a joint application, wherein certain terms and conditions of settlement between the petitioner, DIAL and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) were recorded, was filed to construct a peripheral road adjacent to Village Shahabad, Mohammedpur, in New Delhi.
The court had also noted that as per the settlement, it was DIAL's responsibility to construct such a road, which is going to be a public thoroughfare, and maintenance of it will be the duty of the Public Works Department (PWD), Municipal Corporations of Delhi, or the DDA.
The DIAL claimed that they had constructed the road by a letter dated May 5, 2012. But the same was not taken over as it was not in consonance with the previous order of the court.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) then filed an affidavit following the directions of the court, which set out a shocking state of affairs. A joint survey was also conducted by the SDMC, Airport Authority of India (AAI), and DIAL and the report stated that Mukesh, Junior Manager (DIAL), and Mayank Chauhan, Executive (DIAL), though present, had refused to sign the site inspection report.
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