E-Paper
LDA trains bulldozers on big five
THE LUCKNOW Development Authority (LDA) has passed demolition orders against five out of the 32 allegedly unauthorised multi-storeyed buildings against which a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before a Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court here.The demolition orders against these five structures were passed ex-parte after their owners did not respond to three show cause notices, which were served on them by the development agency during the course of the hearing in the matter.
THE LUCKNOW Development Authority (LDA) has passed demolition orders against five out of the 32 allegedly unauthorised multi-storeyed buildings against which a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before a Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court here.
The demolition orders against these five structures were passed ex-parte after their owners did not respond to three show cause notices, which were served on them by the development agency during the course of the hearing in the matter. This includes Kamla Goel of Vintage Apartments at 29, Jopling Road, Taj Building at Madan Mohan Malviya Marg and Way Lane Crossing, LJ Bhatti of YMCA Building at Rana Pratap Marg and another at 21, Station Road in the name of Rani Shanti Devi. Last but not the least, a government structure for which executive engineer of PWD has been served notice. The moot question, however, is: Will the demolition orders be carried out? If the track record of the LDA in such matters is anything to go by, the answer is in the negative.
According to sources, hundreds of such demolition orders against unauthorized constructions have been gathering dust in the records section for the past several years because of non-execution or on the ground that it has been challenged before the appellate authority.
On July 1, the LDA had published a list of 32 high-rise buildings following a PIL alleging that they had been built in violation of the norms. Of these, while 23 of the structures, most of them group housing complexes, are in enforcement Zone-I (the area in and around Hazratganj) of the LDA, nine others fall under Zone-II (Lalbagh region). Apart from a host of prominent private buildings, the list of these alleged unauthorised structures also contains the name of government owned property like the Darul Shafa B block extension in Lalbagh.
Ironically, instead of relying on its own records in the matter, LDA officials had passed the onus of submitting proof that the buildings conformed to the prescribed norms on their owners. The latter were asked to furnish certified copies of the approved building map, safety, fire and completion certificates by July 9 initially but the deadline was subsequently extended.
The explanation offered by LDA officials was that since the State Government had introduced several self-compounding schemes in the past to regularise these structures, they were not sure about the exact legal status of these structures.
But those conversant with the ways of the development agency exploited the situation to their advantage and merely submitted the provisional permit issued to them by the LDA for undertaking the construction work. “In a written reply they said that all other relevant papers related to their property could be cross-checked by the department from its own records,” said an LDA official. Apart from putting the ball back in the LDA court, the underlying purpose of these owners was simply to buy time, as the hearing in such matters is usually long-drawn and remains inconclusive.
