Govt all set to revive policy on unauthorized constructions in Jammu, Srinagar, Katra

SAC to clear proposal of H&UDD shortly
Around 10,000 violations to come under action immediately

Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 19: The Governor’s administration is all set to revive policy on unauthorized constructions in twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar and holy town of Katra, which had expired even before its implementation on March 31, 2018. A proposal in this regard will be placed before the State Administrative Council (SAC) by the Housing and Urban Development Department shortly.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that issue of revival of policy, which was framed by the PDP-BJP Coalition Government to deal with unauthorized constructions in Jammu, Srinagar and Katra, was recently discussed with the Advisor to Governor B B Vyas.
After obtaining Advisor’s nod, the Housing and Urban Development Department has drafted a proposal and the same will be placed before the State Administrative Council headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik shortly for approval and notification.
By way of fresh notification, period of applicability of the policy framed under Jammu and Kashmir Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act will be extended beyond March 31, 2018, when it had expired even before its implementation.
Unlike during previous PDP-BJP Coalition Government, the administration under Governor’s Rule will leave no stone unturned to give practical shape to the policy, which is aimed at bringing illegal and unauthorized constructions and land use or building use conversions into planning framework and to facilitate the implementation of Master Plans, sources said.
They disclosed that around 10,000 violations—4131 in Jammu, 5500 in Srinagar and 58 in Katra, which have already been identified by the expert committees, will come under action immediately after the issuance of fresh notification vis-à-vis revival of the policy.
It is pertinent to mention here that Empowered Committees headed by Divisional Commissioners in respect of capital cities and Deputy Commissioner Reasi for Katra town have already been constituted by the General Administration Department to deal with these violations.
The expert committees constituted by the Housing and Urban Development Department have categorized the violations into different types-built up area violation, set back/building line violations, ground coverage violations, land use violations, parking norms violations and constructions within the norms of the building byelaws/ Master Plan but for which no permission has been obtained.
It was due to the slackness of the PDP-BJP Coalition Government that much talked about policy, which was framed after four years long exercise, could not be implemented. The policy was approved by the State Cabinet vide Decision No.53/4/2017 dated April 28, 2017. However, notification of policy was delayed for several months due to known reasons.
It was only on September 20, 2017 that the policy was notified by the Housing and Urban Development Department vide SRO-391 in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2014 to bring illegal and unauthorized constructions and land use or building use conversions into planning framework and to facilitate the implementation of Master Plans.
It was stated in the SRO-391 that policy will be applicable for a period of one year-from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 for the local areas of Srinagar, Jammu and Katra. There was inbuilt flaw in the notification as policy was given effect from April 1, 2017 despite the fact that SRO-391 explaining its provisions was issued only on September 20, 2017.
Due to this, confusion prevailed not only at the level of public but also among the officers who were supposed to implement the much-hyped decision of the PDP-BJP Government. The dilly-dallying approach in the implementation of the policy continued till December 2017 when a writ petition was filed in the High Court challenging its certain provisions.
In the petition titled Bimla Devi Versus State of J&K and Others, it was submitted that Section 3 of the J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2014 doesn’t authorize the respondents to compound the offences with regard to Master Plan violations. However, the respondents have issued SRO-391 dated September 20, 2017 which even empowers the Empowered Committees to compound the violations with regard to Master Plan as such the notification was in contravention of Section 3 of the Act.
In view of the submissions made in the petition and in the facts of the case, High Court vide order dated December 22, 2017 issued directions against passing any final order with regard to compounding of offences of violations of Master Plan and since then no development has taken place vis-à-vis implementation of the policy.

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