DTCP appoints nodal officer to up conviction rate

The DTCP has filed around 35 cases in various police stations of Gurugram for illegal development of colonies and encroachments in the city.

To increase the conviction rate of persons engaged in developing illegal colonies in the city, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) said it would work more closely with the city police and held a workshop towards that end on Sunday.

Officials of the department of town and country planning and Gurugram Police during a workshop at the Old CP Office. (Handout)

The DTCP appointed a nodal officer to work with the police department regarding cases that have already been filed against violators and those which will be filed in future.

The DTCP has filed around 35 cases in various police stations of Gurugram for illegal development of colonies and encroachments in the city. The department now wants that those booked in these cases should be punished for such violations.

In the workshop, senior police officers and over 60 investigating officials were made aware of violations under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 and the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963.

Sudhir Chauhan, senior town planner, Gurugram, said the focus is to improve coordination between the two departments to prevent violations of urban development rules. “We want to ensure that there is no lacunae in building a case against the accused. It is often seen that documents go missing and lack of approvals from competent authority cause cases to fall flat in the court of law,” he said.

Arvind Sharma, assistant district attorney, DTCP, said he made the police aware about using electronic evidences in creating a chain of circumstances, which would lead to conviction of violators. “There is need to get appropriate sanctions for prosecution, scrutiny of evidences and using electronic evidences properly so that the case can stand scrutiny in court,” Sharma said.

Ved Prakash, DTP, enforcement, called for better coordination between the police and the DTCP particularly during demolition and anti-encroachment drives.