Mohali mayor writes to Punjab local bodies minister demanding more powers for MC

Mayor complains that only the Mohali municipal commissioner has been excluded from the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act that allows civic bodies more control over building regulations

Taking exception to only Mohali MC commissioner’s exclusion from the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act that allows civic bodies more control over building regulations, city mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu has written to the Punjab local bodies minister.

Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu. (HT Photo)

In his letter to local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra, the mayor stated, “At present, Mohali MC has control of building regulations at villages within municipal limits and control of other residential sectors vests with the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). In a meeting held in July this year, GMADA has already been requested to hand over the control of building regulations of the areas/sectors falling within MC limits at the earliest.”

The letter said in 2013, the Punjab department of housing and urban development had issued a notification, wherein the commissioner of municipal corporations, under Section 2 of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, was appointed as the competent authority to exercise and perform powers granted under Section 81 of Chapter 11 of the aforesaid Act.

But the department, in a notification issued in August this year, appointed the commissioners of all municipal corporations as competent authority under the Act, while excluding only Mohali, the mayor wrote.

Speaking to HT, he said the minister had been requested to make amendments in the August notification to include the Mohali MC commissioner under the ambit of the Act as well to allow MC more control of building regulations, such as approval of building plans, collection of non-construction fees and change of land use (CLU) permissions, in areas falling under its limits.