The Supreme Court has held that land falling within the green belt area cannot be put to auction by development authorities since serious public interests are involved in it. The court also nullified an auction made by the Delhi Development Authority (dda ) in 1985. The dda auctioned a part of the land falling within the green belt in the Kalkaji area in south Delhi. A division bench ruled "on the date of the auction the plot being in the green belt, could not and should not have been put to auction.' Justice R C Lahoti directed the civic body to return the money deposited by Ravindra Mohan Aggarwal. Aggarwal had bid for the land with nine per cent interest since 1985. At the same time, a public interest litigation was filed in the high court challenging the auction. The petitioner complained that the plot was situated in the green belt and, therefore, could neither have been treated as a developed plot nor put to auction for any purpose other than its use as a green belt.