The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (20 October 2015) dismissed a plea by Delhi Transport Corp (DTC) seeking six more months to approach the DDA over its millennium bus depot. A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath refused to grant further time to DTC, saying it was an “abuse of process of the court”.
Noting that DTC had told the court that it would vacate the site by October 31, 2014, the bench said: “The present application filed for extension of time long after the expiry of the time initially granted is nothing but abuse of process of the court.”
In January 2014, DTC gave an undertaking to the court to relocate the depot to another location by October 31, 2014. [See also: (1) Land use of Millennium bus depot in Delhi cannot be changed, DDA to High Court; (2) Millennium Depot land use change under consideration, DTC tells Delhi High Court.]
The depot was built on about 50 acres of land at a cost of Rs.60 crore for the 2010 Commonwealth Games at the Yamuna river bed.
The bench said in 2012 that the high court had given six months to DTC to relocate the depot or the change land use of the site in the Master Plan Delhi 2021 to enable it to continue functioning from its current location.
“Now that DDA (has said) that it is not possible for changing the land use in the Master Plan and that alternative land has also been allotted to DTC, we do not find any justifiable reason for granting extension of time as sought by DTC,” it added.
“The applicant is not entitled for extension of time and the application is dismissed,” the order said.
On January 15 last year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered relocation of the depot.
But in a U-turn, the AAP government in August told the court that more buses were being added in the DTC fleet for which additional parking space was required and so it had been decided not to vacate the site.
