L-G’s 48-hr order ‘burdens’ understaffed civic body

The Lieutenant-Governor has given directions to the civic agency to issue notices to property owners 48-hours prior to the sealing drive, reports Karan Choudhury.

Hassled and confused by the sealing drive? Take heart, those behind the drive are feeling just the same.

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The recent order by the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Tejendra Khanna is troubling the bureaucracy.

The L-G has given directions to the civic agency to issue notices to property owners 48-hours prior to the sealing drive. The notice would convey that the MCD’s inspection shows that the property is being misused. If the owner has anything to say in their defense, they may do so within 48 hours.

Already understaffed and overworked, MCD officials are finding it hard to implement the direction. If they follow the new procedure, they would have to first survey the property and then issue notices. They would then have to wait for a reply from the property owner, scrutinise it and if possible take action on it. This would result in wastage of man-hours and would require a lot of paperwork.

The MCD, however, will “dutifully” follow the directions and see if the process works or not.

The civic body says apart from their own limitations, they are having difficulty in locating properties that are to be sealed. According to senior officials, there have been instances where people running law and CA firms that are not allowed in non-notified areas have claimed they run their private practice from the premises. It is difficult for the teams to check these things and sometimes they have no choice but to leave such properties untouched.