source Municipal Corporation
of Delhi
Details Of unauthorized
Constructs Booked As Per D.M.C.Act 1957
The Jurisdiction of M.C.D.
LIST OF U/C BOOKED DURING THE YEAR ( W.E.F.
1.1.2001
TO 31.12.2005)
Misuse of premises by Owner/ Occupier on roads having width of 80 ft. or more(pdf) |
Govt
will go to SC today over Delhi sealing drive
GoM: Drive on hold, Govt will wait for Sept 25 court hearing |
New Delhi, April 26
Retired IAS officers have been selected to head both committees. The first committee, which will submit its report on the restructuring of the MCD within a period of two months, consists of the union home secretary or his representative, the union urban development secretary or his representative, secretary, municipal affairs of the government of West Bengal and Prof. V.N. Alok from the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). Mr O.P. Kelkar, principal secretary, urban development, will be the committee’s member secretary and it would be headed by former Delhi chief secretary Mr Omesh Saigal. The West Bengal official was selected to ensure that the experience of working of a number of municipal bodies in Kolkata was available to the Committee. The committee will study reports submitted by the Balakrishnan Committee and the Virendra Prakash Committee on the issue of restructuring of MCD in the context of the current situation. It will also examine the comparative advantages of having one municipal body for the whole of Delhi vis-à-vis a number of smaller bodies from the point of view of managing civic services efficiently; look at the financial and administrative viability of the smaller bodies and suggest changes that are required in the existing law for the purpose of restructuring. The second committee, which will be looking into the issue of multiplicity of institutions dealing with urban development in Delhi, is headed by Mr Ashok Pradhan, a former secretary to the union government. This committee consists of the union home secretary or his representative, union urban development secretary or his representative, chief secretary of Delhi and Dr Kanika Bhal, associate professor of management studies at IIT, Delhi. This committee has been entrusted with the task of identifying authorities or agencies which are discharging various functions in relation to urban development in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi; determine their respective roles, responsibilities, inter-relationships and existing arrangements for co-ordination; contribution made by these agencies in the development of the Capital; the level of effectiveness in addressing the issues of urban growth; the bottlenecks in dealing with urban development issues; the need for having different agencies in the context of Delhi being National Capital Territory, and finally to identify alternative mechanism that can deal with the problem of urban growth in Delhi more effectively. The committee has been asked
to submit its report within one month.
HC orders probe against
tainted MCD officials
A division bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma, asked the CBI Director to file the preliminary enquiry (PE) against the ‘corrupt engineers’ before the court in four weeks. Adjourning the matter for further direction till April 27, the court directed the CBI Director to constitute a team headed by a Joint Director to probe into the matter. The court said the CBI should also probe into the nexus between the corrupt engineers and their political bosses in deliberately allowing unauthorised constructions in Delhi. The ambit of inquiry should also be extended to other corrupt officials in the MCD, the court added. The court ordered the CBI director to ensure that the criminal proceedings covered not only those officers against whom disciplinary proceedings had been initiated by the MCD commissioner, but also those who had been dismissed from service in connection with the unauthorised constructions. The inference being that apart from dismissal of service, the officers should be criminally prosecuted. “The MCD has failed to perform its duties in accordance with the Act. A person cannot be allowed to work if he has by negligence, apathy or connivance allowed unauthorised constructions to mushroom in the city,” the bench observed. Justice Jain directed the CBI to probe the involvement of the engineering department staff in encouraging the unauthorised constructions and “their nexus with the political bosses”. The Bench ordered the CBI probe even as the Corporation’s counsel Jagmohan Sabharawal tried to explain that the MCD Commissioner had no powers under the Act to initiate action against local Municipal councillors with whose alleged connivance the unauthorised constructions were allowed to mushroom in the Capital. Justice Jain was in no mood to accept the submissions of the MCD counsel when he reeled out statistics to explain the action taken against Assistant Engineers, Superintending Engineers and other engineers for their alleged involvement in the irregularities as he repeatedly queried as to why no action was taken against the local councillors. The High Court also ordered the MCD Commissioner to furnish within four weeks a report clarifying if any “particular class of engineers” had been allowed to go scot free even after the earlier vigilance probe had indicted them for their role in encouraging unauthorised constructions. During the hearing, some of the advocates complained that the local deputy commissioners were not cooperating with the court-appointed ‘advocate commissioners’ in inspecting the unauthorised constructions. Following this, the Bench warned that it would initiate action against the officials if they persisted with such attitude. On March 23, the High Court had appointed four ‘advocate commissioners’ to personally inspect the status of the demolition drive launched by the Corporation in pursuant of the court’s earlier order. However, some of the ‘advocate
commissioners’ in their reports to the court have complained that far from
demolishing the illegal structures, a section of the officials were encouraging
fresh unauthorised constructions.
Demolitions: HC refrains
from ruling Centre’s application MCD for restoring notification exempting
Lal Dora areas from building bylaws
A Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma, which is dealing with the ongoing demolition drive, however, issued notices to the MCD and other parties for their replies on the Centre’s application, and posted the matter for hearing on March 22. Appearing for the Centre, senior counsel Kailash Gambhir sought relief for minor violators on the ground that the government had constituted a high-powered committee with former Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejinder Khanna to assess the magnitude of the problem and suggest a comprehensive strategy to deal with the situation arising out of it. In its affidavit, the Centre urged the court that in the coming three months, the ongoing demolition drive be confined to the three categories of major violators — encroachments on government land, ongoing illegal constructions and commercial establishments in residential areas. The court was told that the committee’s terms of reference include making an assessment of unauthorised constructions, misuse of premises, identifying underlying causes of violation and recommending measures to prevent recurrence. Gambhir told the court that the committee would submit its report within three months, and until then, pleaded that action against minor violators be kept on hold. The MCD had begun its demolition-drive against all illegal constructions in the Capital following the High Court direction that action be taken against 18,000 illegal structures that had sprouted during 2001-2005. Meanwhile, the MCD today called upon the Delhi government to restore the 1963 notification which stipulated that building bylaws are not applicable in Lal Dora villages. In doing so, the MCD House withdrew a decision by the Standing Committee on February 21 last year to retract the 1963 notification after the Delhi High Court directed the MCD to reconsider it. The MCD resolution, passed on February 23 by the Standing Committee where it was introduced by leader of the House Jitendra Kochar and Leader of the Opposition Vijendra Gupta, calls upon the Delhi government to stay the de-notification of the 1963 order which provided for Lal Dora areas to be kept out of the purview of building bylaws under Section 507 of the DMC Act. The resolution also demanded that a fresh proposal be put up in the Standing Committee bringing out detailed background of the case and legal aspects involved so that its recommendations could be sent to the corporation through the Rural Area Committee. Under Section 507 of the Delhi Municipal Act, MCD, with the approval of the central government, can announce that rural areas and its parts can be exempted from the various provisions of DMC Act if deemed in public interest. As per the provision, the MCD, in a resolution in 1959, exempted rural areas and its parts from building bylaws. On the basis of the resolution, a notification was issued in the Gazette in 1963. The MCD, had, however, decided
to withdraw the 1963 notification after the Delhi High Court directed it
to reconsider the order. Hence, the MCD commissioner, in a circular dated
December 30, 2004, stated that after August, 2004 building bylaws be enforced
in Lal Dora area and action taken against those buildings which were constructed
after August 23, 2004.
Delhi demolitions: PM
appoints high-powered panel
After an hour-long meeting Singh had with Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Reddy told reporters "Prime Minister has desired that the current uncertainty in Delhi's ongoing drive should be brought to an end." "After taking various factors into consideration, it was decided that Urban Development Ministry should appoint a high-powered committee of eminent people, experts and representatives of Congress and BJP to look into various violations that have gone on in Delhi for years and come out with a practical solution," he said. The Committee, which will be constituted in the next few days, will submit its report in three months time, he said. Maintaining that all kinds of building and land law violations cannot be clubbed together indiscriminately, Reddy said MCD should focus on more grave violations. Describing encroachment on public land a "serious violation" as compared to the minor violations in a private property, Reddy said MCD should focus on these alongwith the ongoing illegal constructions. Observing that MCD will seek instructions from the High Court, the Urban Development minister said MCD will submit a plan of action and obtain necessary instructions from the court. Asked if it meant that MCD should stop demolition of private properties and those in Lal Dora areas till the findings of the committee, Reddy parried the question and only said MCD should concentrate on encroachment on public land which was a more serious violation. Stressing that taking care of violations which have occurred during last 15 years in the national capital was a daunting task, Reddy said "it cannot be set right overnight." On Dikshit's demand for an ordinance on the lines of Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra, he said "the objective behind such a measure is to provide relief to people. These measures (constitution of a committee) are also towards that." However, he said brining-in
an ordinance was not possible for the Centre at the moment since Parliament
has already been convened.
So simple, and yet since
2000, all that the MCD officials did was to create ambiguity which created
a lucrative nexus between builders and corrupt officials. The builders
made their pile and now those who invested on the road are out on the streets
today.
Construction of MG 1 had begun in 1999 and that of MG 2 in 2003 (a 1992 building renovated) according to owner-builders Bobby Gupta and Prakash Mehta, respectively. Gupta claimed that he had been given a clean chit by the MCD in 2000 when its legal department said that no sanction for building plan was required since it was located in a Lal Dora area. The 24 August, 1963 notification was cited as a reason for the respite. When Delhi HC clarified on
August 23, 2004 that building bylaws were applicable to Lal Dora, what
did MCD do? Commissioner Mehta issued a circular on December 30, 2004,
saying that action was to be taken only against buildings that had come
up after the HC order.
So, did the MCD file the appeal? No, it didn't. Almost after nine months, on September 23, 2005, Mehta withdrew the circular. But by then, on April 27, 2005, claimed Bobby Gupta, the MCD had informed him through a letter that his file had been closed and he was in the clear. It was reopened after the circular was withdrawn. Mehta, owner of MG2, is also flashing this circular to point out MCD's flip-flop on such a vital issue which has caused so much loss. 'Big fish' not just politicians:
HC
A division bench of Justice Vijendra Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma, while passing the order, asked the MCD to file a comprehensive Action-Taken Report (ATR) on the list of unauthorised premises owned by the 'big fish' and posted the matter for further hearing to Febraury 16. Earlier, MCD's Counsell OP Malhotra filed before the Court an ATR in which he said that notice had been served on 15 MLAs and 4 corporators for being in position of unauthorised constructions. HC tells MCD To Go After
Big Fish
This is just three days before it tells Delhi HC what it has done to implement its January 10 order for taking action against politicians mentioned in media reports. Obviously, no demolitions can happen before January 31, when MCD appears before the court to give its ATR. Among the 18 politicians who are learnt to have been sent the notices are chief minister Sheila Dikshit, her son and MP, Sandeep Dikshit, many of her cabinet colleagues, including urban development minister A K Walia, her bete noire within the Congress, DPCC chief Ram Babu Sharma and Mayor Satbir Singh. They will all receive the notices by Saturday. Among the others who are being sent the notices are education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, health minister Yoganand Shastri, industries minister Mangat Ram Singhal and Delhi assembly Speaker Chaudhary Prem Singh. Property hit list leads to jam on website Details Of UnAuthorised Constructs Booked As Per D.M.C.Act 1957 NEW DELHI: Bombarded with hits by anxious visitors clicking to check if they figured in the list of 18,328 properties booked for illegal constructions, the MCD website crashed on Friday morning. And till late in the evening, the civic officials failed to find an alternative site for hosting the list. The MCD has now decided to make the list available at all its control rooms in the 12 zonal headquarters for the convenience of the general public. Till late on Friday, the MCD's Information Technology Department tried fervently to restore the site, which was created with a capacity to handle not more than 400 to 500 hits in a go. It has a bandwidth of 2MB. "We need some other website to host the list. But till then, it has been decided that the MCD site, once restored, will carry the list not as a doc.file but as a zip.file," said MCD's IT Advisor P K Gupta. Changing the file format
is expected to reduce the pressure on the MCD site, as the list will appear
in a condensed form in the zip format and can be downloaded faster. Besides,
people will not be able to open the list and read it online.
But sources said the MCD found that the Delhi Government's applications are hosted on a NIC website. "To be able to host the list on an NIC website, the MCD would have to go through a set procedure of complete security checks which would take considerable time. Hence, it is not a feasible option," they added. The IT advisor pointed out that the MCD's official site, www.mcdonline.gov.in, had been originally designed to suit e-governance purposes and not for handling such an extensive citizen interface. "This site is normally visited by people for things like booking of community halls and parks for weddings through our Citizen Service Bureaus. The site can deal with a
maximum of 400 to 500 hits at a time. But since the list was put up, the
site was bombarded by visitors. As a result the site slowed down on Thursday
itself and on Friday morning it crashed," Gupta explained.
January 19, 2006
A host of politicians corporators to MLAs, and even ministers have been found to have built their properties in violation of the bylaws without facing any action from the MCD. A Division Bench of Justices Vijender Jain and Rekha Sharma also saw through the civic agency's attempt to tar everyone with the same brush by claiming, on the basis of a dubious survey, that 80% of buildings in the city had illegal constructions. Forcing the MCD counsel to admit that this submission was not based on details, the court said it was aimed only at creating a fear psychosis in the mind of law-abiding citizens. "Through incorrect statements, an atmosphere has been created that the entire Delhi will be demolished to generate sympathy for people who have violated the law with impunity," said the court It set a cut-off date of December 31, 2000, and directed the commissioner to fearlessly demolish illegal constructions (about 18,299) that had come up after this date. "The power to sanction building plans and demolish illegal buildings vests with the MCD commissioner. If anybody interferes with the process of performing his statutory duty or implementation of the court's order, the commissioner can bring it to the court's notice," the judges said. Leaving no doubts about the status of lal dora areas like MG Road, the court asked the MCD to go after the glitzy malls, showrooms and restaurants in such areas which include commercialised villages like Hauz Khas and Zamroodpur in the heart of the city. The Bench said that going after the "big fish" would create an atmosphere in which honest citizens will volunteer to demolish their unauthorised portions themselves. "People should not feel that by money power demolitions can be influenced...persons with long arms should not be spared," the judges said. For buildings under construction, the court said if any illegal work was observed in such buildings, power companies and DJB should be asked not to extend the basic facilities to them Warning MCD officials against cosmetic demolitions, the court said such properties should be rendered unfit for use. "Those who rebuild illegal portions after demolition should be prosecuted and cost of demolition (@ Rs 6,500 per hour) be recovered from them," it said. Sparing some thought for property owners allegedly duped by builders, including those who were not informed about illegal constructions on their premises at the time of sale. The court asked the civic body to display the list of illegal constructions with names of their owners on the MCD website so that residents could take corrective steps on their own. "The citizens should know who the violators are," the court said. The list, said the court, should carry the property number and the names of original owner or/and builder involved in the development of the properties. This will also help the occupiers of illegal properties get compensation, the court said. Delhi HC seeks report
on demolitions
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the principal secretary to the Delhi government were asked to file by Jan 31 a report on the action taken on properties owned or managed by Delhi Congress chief Ram Babu Sharma, Delhi Assembly Speaker Prem Singh, Delhi Finance Minister Ashok Kumar Walia, Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Anjali Rai and Delhi legislators Mukesh Sharma, Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal and Prahlad Singh Sawhney. As for Sawhney, judge Vikramjit Sen noted he had filed a public suit seeking an interim stay on the demolition of illegal structures in the capital. Sen directed the court registry to send a copy of the order to the Delhi government's principal secretary and to the MCD commissioner for compliance Sen took note of reports in the Indian Express newspaper on illegal structures owned by politicians being spared during the demolition drive and asked for a report. "Public perception is that it is only the lower strata of society which encounters the brunt of law. This perception must be rectified and this can only be achieved when the most influential meets with the rigorous of law along with ordinary citizens. This vindicates the purpose of law," Sen observed. "The citizens are aggrieved and hurt by the fact that the demolition is being conducted in a discriminatory manner. There are press reports appearing everyday giving details of illegal and unauthorised constructions carried out by several MLAs in Delhi," the order said. Instead of voluntarily agreeing to become conforming users or to rectify or modify or remove their illegal constructions, the stand of the prominent and influential persons is that an ordinance will be passed to regularise unauthorised construction. "If this is so, ordinary
citizens should be treated in like manner," Sen observed
FIR against MCD for demolishing illegal construction New Delhi, December 21 A resident of a West Delhi area today filed an FIR against the MCD for demolishing an illegal construction in his house without serving him prior notice. He stated in the FIR that a local MCD official had demanded Rs 10,000 bribe from him earlier for sparing his house. Satyanarayan Goyal further alleged while all 19 houses in his lane had illegal constructions the MCD took action only against his house. The complainant alleged the MCD personnel demolished three rooms in his house in the Janakpuri area on December 15 without having given any prior notice to him. He claimed the MCD personnel told him they would take action against all encroachments in the area but his was the only house where demolition took place. “We even asked the MCD personnel to show us a copy of the demolition order which they did not show us. We even told them that we had not received any notice from the MCD. But they went ahead with the demolition,” Goyal said. 80 buildings demolished by MCD on Monday Monday, December 19, 2005 Liveindia.com NEW DELHI: Carrying on with its task of removing 18,000 illegal structures in the capital in over three weeks, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday demolished over 80 unauthorised constructions and sealed 25 others amid violent protests by the affected residents. Resuming its operations under strong police cover amid hectic political activity to get the demolitions stopped, the civic body's bulldozers razed to the ground unauthorised structures at around 20 places across all the 12 zones in compliance with the High Court orders. In many places, officials of the civic body faced angry protests from affected people with the situation going out of control in west Patel Nagar in central Delhi, where police resorted to lathi charge. In Vikas Marg in east Delhi an angry crowd broke open commercial establishments sealed by the MCD. MCD officials also demolished portions of multi-storeyed buildings extended without permission in several areas, including portions of two state-run Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC) units functioning in Bhawana industrial complex in West Delhi's Narela area... In West Patel Nagar, MCD officials demolished a four-storey structure amid stone pelting from angry residents, prompting police to use batons to disperse the mob, MCD officials said. The majority of the demolitions took place in Rohini area where authorities pulled down 35 illegal shops and residential properties in Kohat Enclave and sealed ten unauthorised structures. Twenty such shops were demolished in Dilawar Nagar area of Civil Lines. Four multi-storeyed showrooms, including a diamond shop, were sealed and two flats were demolished in Vikas Marg and Mayur Vihar areas of Shahdara south division, where officials faced stiff resistance from the local residents. A mob broke open some shops sealed by the MCD and the civic body had to request for additional police force to continue the operations. The shops were sealed again after police reinforcement arrived on the scene. MCD bulldozers demolished three huge commercial establishments in the posh Lajpat Nagar market and pulled down five illegal properties in Sitaram Bazaar in Sadar Paharganj area besides sealing nine transport godowns in Roshnara road The drive did not spare posh residential areas of the national capital as seven multi-storeyed apartment complexes were demolished in the upmarket Green Park, Rajouri Garden, Janakpuri and Vikas Puri areas of south and west Delhi. Three multi-storeyed buildings were demolished in Green Park and Mehrauli-Badarpur road areas, while four such properties were pulled down in Rajouri Garden, Janakpuri and Vikaspuri. The outer areas of Najafgarh and Narela also saw the demolition drive in full flow. Four commercial godowns were razed to the ground in Nangloi while 20 shops and portions of some buildings were pulled down in areas of Civil Lines division. Meanwhile, a Congress delegation led by its chief Ram Babu Sharma comprising party Lok Sabha members from the national capital met Lt Governor BL Joshi and discussed the situation arising out of the demolition drive. City Police Commissioner KK Paul also held a meeting with Delhi Chief Secretary S Reghunathan to review the security situation. |
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MEERUT:
For Madhu Malti, a woman police inspector in Meerut, it was just another
mundane day of duty. But in a flash everything changed and now she finds
herself cornered for what she claims "just following a senior's orders."
Malti, now under suspension for thrashing young lovers in Meerut's Gandhi Park Monday in full view of TV cameras, says: "I did not do anything wrong that day. I am being victimised because the seniors have not owned up their responsibilities. "I was not leading a 25-member
team but I am being punished as I do not have any political links like
many others in the team to save my job. I am being punished because I am
a woman. I need a job to support my family."
Principal Secretary (Home)
Alok Sinha said here that the decision to register a case against Gautam,
who is already under suspension, had been taken after seeking legal opinion.
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