The Western Court transit hostel located on the Janpath, may soon become a part of history as it will be replaced by residential guest houses for Members of Parliament (MPs).
The authority has issued a public notice for change in the land use and sought objections or suggestions within a month. The Western Court is spread across 7.76 acres and is a landmark in the capital.
According to a DDA official, since the land use is being changed, the authority, as per procedure, has invited objections/suggestions, after which the matter will be referred to the board of inquiry. After the land use is altered, the land in question will be handed over to Parliament to build the flats.
The Western Court, which comes under Zone D, has existing land use as government office and has suites which serve as transit accommodation for Parliamentarians. Thapar House is located to its north and Hotel Janpath to its the south. On its east is Janpath, while Kerala House is to its West.
The Lok Sabha secretariat had requested that additional suites be built in the vacant space available in the Western Court, for which it required change of land use of the available land from government office to residential hostel.
Sources said the move is a part of the plan to build more flats for MPs in Delhi so that they need not stay in luxurious hotels, which is costing crores to the public exchequer. The proposed guest house on Janpath Road will have 100 rooms.
At present, most of the Lok Sabha members live in the MP flats in North Avenue and South Avenue, close to Rashtrapati Bhawan, and also in Narmada and Kaveri Blocks. In the absence of sufficient accommodation, newly elected MPs are often housed in Hotel Ashok. There have been cases when the House Committee allots houses/flats for them, but since they are not made habitable in time by the Urban Development Ministry, the MPs have to be housed in the hotel, which is very costly.