Court orders govt action against illegal buildings

Order in the wake of the recent incident of building collapse in Lalita Park.

In the wake of the building collapse incident in Lalita Park in which 70 people were killed, a Delhi court has asked the government and the MCD to take precautionary measures against illegal constructions and rickety buildings.

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The court's order came on the complaint by a city resident Rajender Chabra, who had entered into an agreement in 2005 with a real estate company, M/s Showman Construction and Impex Private Ltd, and its three directors to construct a house on his plot at Greater Kailash in South Delhi.

"The building is situated in a thickly populated urban colony, posing danger to human habitation in the neighbourhood... The state is directed to do the needful in such matters," additional chief metropolitan magistrate Rakesh Pandit said.

The Economic Offence Wing of the Delhi police, in its status report, had endorsed the allegations of the complainant, saying "the material used in constructing the house were of very poor quality and the building was prone to get damaged during earthquakes."

It was also opined in the report that the building should be immediately "dismantled".

The court, which had earlier ordered registration of an FIR against the company and its directors, asked the government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the police to take necessary steps.

Earlier, the court had ordered registration of an FIR against the real estate company, and its four officials - Avdhesh Mittal, Sunil Goyal, Ashok Gupta and Bharti Dogra - under various provisions of the IPC, pertaining to cheating, restraining a person and criminal conspiracy.