The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea challenging a Delhi High Court order that had declined to grant a stay on the demolition of the Signature View Apartments in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe was hearing a petition seeking a stay on the High Court’s interim order dated September 17. The top court’s refusal clears the way for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to move ahead with the demolition of the housing complex.
Signature View Apartments is a multi-storey housing project launched in 2010 by the Delhi Development Authority. It consists of 336 flats across 12 blocks, with 224 flats for the Higher Income Group (HIG) category and 112 for the Middle Income Group (MIG).
Allotment began in 2010 and possession was handed over in 2012. Within two to three years, residents began reporting serious structural problems, including falling plaster and cracks in pillars across most blocks.
In December 2024, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court upheld a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) order dated December 18, 2023, which had declared the structures dangerous. The court held that the DDA had the authority to demolish and reconstruct the buildings.
On September 17, 2025, a division bench of the Delhi High Court issued interim directions, refusing to stay the demolition and directing the DDA to set up a camp office within two days in the apartment precincts to facilitate documentation and paperwork for residents vacating their flats.
“There shall be no stay on demolition, which shall, however, be undertaken by the DDA by causing minimum inconvenience to the residents,” the court had ordered.
The High Court also allowed residents to remove their belongings, including bathroom fittings and electrical items, while vacating.
Residents were granted time until October 12, 2025, to vacate their flats. The bench clarified that “the stay of the residents for any period under this order shall be at their own risk for the reasons already assigned in our earlier order dated August 7, 2025.”
The petitioners approached the Supreme Court seeking to challenge the High Court’s September 17 order and requested a stay on the demolition. However, the bench declined to entertain the plea, effectively allowing the High Court’s directions to stand.
With this, the DDA can continue with the planned demolition and reconstruction of the structurally unsafe buildings, in line with the orders of the Delhi High Court.
