Civic body has failed to regulate unauthorised constructions: Delhi HC
The Delhi High Court has criticized the civic administration for failing to regulate unauthorized construction and called for responsibility to be fixed. The court was hearing a plea to halt and demolish illegal construction near a protected monument. The court also called for improved coordination between the Delhi Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
The civic administration in the Capital has failed to regulate and has “turned a blind eye” towards unauthorised construction, the Delhi high court said on Thursday, asking for responsibility to be fixed.
“This ecosystem needs to be changed. Do something about it. No institution can be used to perpetuate illegality. Institutions cannot turn a blind eye… With so many authorities working on the ground, they have all failed us, our civic administration is not able to deal with all this. It’s on the verge of failing. Responsibility must be fixed now,” a bench led by acting chief justice Manmohan said.
The court was hearing a plea filed by the NGO Jamia Arabia Nizamia Welfare Education Society, seeking to halt and demolish illegal construction carried out in a sealed guest house located within 100 meters of the centrally protected Nizamuddin ki Baoli and Barakhamba Tomb.
The petition contended that a large number of unauthorized guest houses were operating without any permission from the Nizamuddin West Residential Colony, under the aid and support of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the station house officer (SHO) of the Nizamuddin police station.
The bench, also comprising justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, remarked that there was a need for the authorities to devise a mechanism to maintain vigil regarding unauthorised constructions, since its demolition at a later stage resulted in huge national waste.
The court also called for improvement of the coordination between DDA and MCD, and suggested that the same could be done by holding meetings.
During the hearing on Thursday, MCD submitted that it had commenced departmental proceedings against officials who had failed to act on the intimations given by the police and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) regarding the unauthorised construction at the guest house.
To be sure, the high court had on Wednesday slammed MCD and DDA for its failure to act against the illegal construction, saying encroachment on public land is “akin to dacoity”.
Earlier, the high court, while fuming over the construction of three additional floors at the guest house, had said that “jugalbandi” that was going on between the civic authorities (MCD and DDA) and the police had to stop, and observed that the matter required investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).