Shut out, Games Village flat owners go to court

NEW DELHI: Those who have purchased the flats at the Games Village are yet to get possession and have finally gone to court. Delhi Development Authority, meanwhile, seems to be taking it easy. The agency has done little to ensure proper maintenance of the 1168 flats which have been lying locked after the Games, since November 2010. This reporter managed to get inside the heavily guarded fortress that the Village seems to have become.What we saw justifies the concern being expressed by the owners of the flats.
In many of the towers, the doors and windows of the flats were lying open, with dust and rain streaming in. This has led to deterioration in the quality of the flats which were bought by the allottees for anything between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. Many DDA employees, who claimed to be from the 'quality control' department of DDA, were seen sleeping inside one of the flats. The outer façade of many of the towers also seemed to be chipping at many places.
One of the allottees, Shalabh Tandon, who had also managed to get inside the Village complex, was aghast. "DDA still has to remove the furniture from the flats allotted to us. The flats have been lying locked up since the last eight months with no one bothering with their maintenance. In one of the flats, we even saw dirty plates which have not been removed since the Games. The curtains were coming off and the bathroom fittings, railings etc are rusting. We have unnecessarily got caught in the crossfire between DDA and Emaar,'' said Tandon.
The basement has been dug up for waterproofing work. According to an official, work on three layers of waterproofing will be completed by July. "The grade slabs have been repaired and perforated pipes are being placed so that the water does not come to the surface. Concreting of the walls is also being carried out. We will observe the situation after the rains and carry out cosmetic waterproofing of the basement thereafter,'' said an official.
A lot of furnishings which were either not used or removed from the towers are lying in the basement and many mattresses and cushions are being used by the employees working in the basement area. A final inventory of the flats will be made to ascertain if the fittings and furnishings etc are missing or not after DDA hands over the flats to Emaar MGF. The tables, chairs and sofas also seem to be in a bad condition - they were just dumped in the basement. "The furnishings will have to be removed once the possession of the flats is given to Emaar MGF. The furnishings lying in the basement will be used once DDA auctions off its own flats which is likely to take time,'' said an official.
"As per the project development agreement between DDA and Emaar MGF, the apartments were to be handed over to the latter within two months of completion of Games. Sustainable upkeep of the apartments is crucial and the current impasse is affecting maintenance of the Village,'' said a spokesperson of Emaar. The sports complex also reveals neglect with wild grass growing in the area while the outdoor swimming pool is dry with no one using it.
DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar said: "We have beefed up security to prevent vandalism in the Village complex and the flats have been locked up. We will look into the issue of open doors and windows. The furniture lying in the basement is packed and will be used when we auction our share of flats.''
Meanwhile, the matter of issuing a completion certificate for the Village complex seems to be far from being resolved and is leading to delays in handing over the flats to the allottees. "The 17 illegal flats are still being demolished by Emaar MGF. They have also re-submitted the plans to DDA for re-assessment of FAR etc. As soon as this is done, along with waterproofing, a completion certificate will be issued,'' said Dhar.
The appellate tribunal of MCD had earlier raised the issue that there is no provision for issuing a temporary occupancy permit - which had been issued for the Games Village - in respect of any building and that amounted to issuing a completion certificate under the building bylaws. It further stated in a letter issued to Emaar that the words temporary occupancy permit were used in a letter written by joint director, building, DDA, while internally the words occupancy permit have been mentioned. This "clearly shows that while issuing the temporary occupancy permit, there was a malafide intention on the part of the joint director.'' The DDA claimed that the temporary occupancy certificate had been issued by the L-G by using his special powers and the different usage in both the letters was a typing mistake.