Delhi: DDA tells Signature View residents to vacate by July 31

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has asked residents of the crumbling Signature View apartments in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar to vacate and handover the houses by July 31, according to a recent Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) issued to homeowners.

Like the one issued in March, the fresh set of SOP issued on May 1 too did not specify when the agency will offer rent to all the residents — a lingering issue that has drawn out the vacation process for long now.

The apartments are supposed to undergo demolition and subsequent reconstruction, as per orders issued by lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena in January 2023 to DDA. All the 12 towers in Signature View were declared unfit for habitation in an IIT-Delhi report in November 2022.

Since then, some residents have moved out, while some have stayed back. DDA has now asked the residents of already vacated flats to complete all handover formalities by May 30.

According to residents, more than 150 of the 336 families have moved out in the last year.

“Residents and owners of SVA are responsible for providing timely notice and applying for vacation as per the SOP. The site engineer will be responsible for verification of the application, conducting inspections, documents and confirming the date of vacation of flat. The engineering department will intimate the housing department about the complete details of flats that have been vacated and the date when they have been vacated. Engineering staff will be responsible for maintaining a proper register as per the format provided for entering all details of vacation as communicated by residents and confirmed by engineering staff,” the SOP states.

Meanwhile, the residents, who received a copy of the SOP on Saturday, said that they will start vacating the flats now in the hope that DDA honours its commitment to give rent soon as possible. The Delhi high court in December last year directed the agency to distribute rent to those who have already moved out. However, DDA had previously said that it would transfer the rent only when all flats were vacated.

“For rent payment, we have been told that DDA will seek approval of its boarsand the LG as per the court order and start the rent. There will be a service sunset date for stoping RWA and DDA services, which will be 15 days after expiry of timelines. We agree to go as per DDA’s plan,” said Gaurav Pandey, general secretary of the residents’ welfare association at Signature View.

According to the SOP, the allottee (homeowner) will first DDA about the intent to vacate and hand over the flat, along with a list of relevant documents. Next, the officials will verify the documents within seven days.

“After the verification, DDA will acknowledge the receipt of all required documents, confirm the ownership status of the allottee and issue a ‘possession slip’ stating that the handover is for reconstruction purposes,” a DDA official said, asking not to be named.

However, some residents worry whether they will receive the rent on moving out.

“We hope that DDA aggressively works to secure authority approval for rent payment as per this proposal. We request the LG to help rehabilitate people residing in this life-threatening apartment by agreeing to the proposal and payment of rent soon,” Pandey said.

The Signature View apartments, built over 2.16 acres, were launched in 2007 and the possession of flats started in 2012. The premises have 12 towers with 336 high-income group and medium-income group flats.