Noida authority: Chief architect and town planner suspended
The CAP was scheduled to retire on July 31. However, following the recent development, he will have to remain attached to the office of the CEO of the Noida authority until the next order.
The Noida authority’s chief executive officer (CEO) Amit Mohan Prasad on Friday suspended chief architect and town planner (CAP) Praveen Shrivastava for allegedly not ‘respecting seniors, showing a lack of faith in the government and negligence in discharging official duties.’
The CAP was scheduled to retire on July 31. However, following the recent development, he will have to remain attached to the office of the CEO of the Noida authority until the next order.
“I have suspended him for not discharging his duties properly. He has shown disrespect to his seniors and the state government in his behaviour. Therefore, I have suspended him. An official should not express disrespect for seniors or the government,” said Prasad.
The CEO has given the charge of chief architect and town planner to Shrivastava’s junior, Ashok Mishra. The Noida authority’s chief architect and town planner’s post is crucial because the person is responsible for carving out new sectors and planning urban developments for the city.
The CAP also has the onus of conducting inspections at the site of a realty project before issuing the occupancy certificate to a building. Without occupancy certificate, homebuyers cannot move into a housing society.
The CAP, along with his team, verifies whether a building is fit for living or not by inspecting the basic infrastructure facilities and safety measures in place along with its compliance to the sanctioned layout plan.
At present, the authority is to issue occupancy certificates for around 40 housing projects in the city.
Shrivastava, during his tenure with the Ghaziabad Development Authority, carved out residential areas such as Vasundhara and Vaishali before he was posted at Noida.
Shrivastava was unavailable for a comment on the issue, despite repeated attempts.
The authority was already struggling with a shortage of staff in its town planning department as the CAP was due to retire in July-end.
“I do not know if the Uttar Pradesh government will depute a new CAP after July. Let’s see what will happen. As of now, Ashok Mishra will take over the responsibilities,” said Prasad.