‘Redevelop Signature View Apartments’

Built in 2007-09, the apartment complex in Mukherjee Nagar was found to be structurally unsafe by IIT-Delhi during a 2021-22 study

Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to redevelop the “structurally damaged” Signature View Apartments in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar and rehabilitate its residents in the meantime, Raj Niwas officials said on Tuesday.

The L-G has also ordered “immediate initiation of criminal proceedings” against the construction agencies or builders involved and a vigilance inquiry to identify officials responsible for lapses in the construction within 15 days and subsequent action.

Built in 2007–09, the apartment complex in 2011-12 saw residents moving in. However, the flats soon started showing construction-related issues, forcing residents to file a complaint with the DDA, officials said. “A 2021-22 study conducted by IIT-Delhi at the behest of the DDA had found the building to be structurally unsafe, with a recommendation to ‘vacate and dismantle’ it,” an official said.

The official said that the L-G overruled the DDA, which had earlier said “these allotments are not part of social welfare schemes; that there is no law which makes DDA responsible for building in perpetuity, or even in the period in question or it is not the duty of DDA to maintain the buildings”.

Thanking the L-G, the RWA of the complex said, “We are grateful to the L-G for having acted on our concerns, and expressed clearly that the case of Signature View Apartments should serve as a message to all officials and contractors that no laxity, misconduct or collusion will be tolerated and that the residents of the city are supreme.”