The DDA had put up 5,238 flats, priced between Rs 7.2 lakh and Rs 77.8 lakh, for allotment in August and September under “DDA Housing Scheme 2008”. Of the available number of flats, 17.5 per cent were reserved for the Scheduled Castes.

The “legality” of this reservation policy has been challenged by Prem Chand, a 42-year-old resident of Dilshad Garden, who has sought the High Court’s intervention and an interim stay on the allotment of houses under the specific reserved category for the Scheduled Castes.

In a petition, he claims the government agency had surpassed its jurisdiction by “inviting applications from Scheduled Caste applicants outside the National Capital Territory”, without a thought for similar members of the “oppressed castes” living in Delhi.

“The DDA is given definite statutory powers to engage only in planned development of Delhi and the meaning of the word ‘development’ cannot be construed to the extent of inviting people domiciled in Delhi to compete with people domiciled elsewhere to win a lottery on scarce housing,” the petition, filed through counsel K V Dhananjay, stated.

Chand, who had applied for a flat under the reserved category, termed the current allotment under the Scheduled Caste category as “discriminatory” and devoid of any “rational relation to the needs and aspirations of the people living in or domiciled in Delhi”.