Delhi HC has asked the DDA to pay the monthly rent to flat owners until reconstructed houses are allotted.
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Satish Choudhary, 71, a resident of Signature View Apartments in Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi, has been caught in a catch-22 situation. Neither does he have money to move out of the apartments, which have been declared unsafe and are awaiting demolition, nor is the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) ready to pay him the rent.

“Despite the High Court’s direction, the DDA has not made any effort to pay our rent. Where do I go?” rued the retired realtor

Several pillars and columns of the apartments, built in 2007 by the DDA, started developing cracks in 2012. A year later, exterior grit wash and plaster fell. The DDA asked the National Council for Cement and Building Materials and IIT-Delhi to study the structure, which recommended its demolition.

Mr. Choudhary is among the 336 flat owners who have been asked to vacate the premises. When they approached the Delhi High Court last year, the court ordered the DDA to pay a rent of ₹50,000 per month to owners of HIG flats and ₹38,000 per month to MIG flat owners until the reconstructed flats are allotted to them. The court also asked the DDA to increase the rent by 10% every year.

“I put my entire life’s savings into this home, and every day I live in fear,” Mr. Choudhary added.

Gaurav Pandey, the housing complex’s RWA secretary, told The Hindu that they had met DDA Vice Chairperson Vijay Kumar Singh and senior officials multiple times over the rent payment but in vain.

He added that they are planning to meet Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena, who is also the chairperson of the DDA, in the upcoming week to discuss the contempt of court.

There was no response from the DDA over the allegations.

Over 150 families have shifted out of the apartments. Last month, the DDA floated an e-tender for the demolition of the apartments. Panicked over the development, several residents stormed the offices of the DDA’s Vice Chairperson over the non-payment of rent.

The residents now fear that they will be “forced to vacate the premises” and pay the rent “out of their own pockets”.