* Civic Laws Spl Provisions Bill only a temporary step
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 17: Confessing that magnitude of violations of respective Master Plans in Jammu and Kashmir is too huge to be solved by sealing, demolition and forcible action alone, Government has decided to constitute a high power committee of experts to go into the depth of the reasons for the unauthorized constructions and suggest remedial measures.
The committee, which will be constituted following passage of J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Bill whereby moratorium of one year on sealing and demolition of illegal structures has been proposed, will submit its report within a period of six months. The Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act will only be a temporary step in order to ensure that no illegal construction comes up by taking advantage of cut-off date of March 31, 2015.
In the draft of the J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department has mentioned, “there has been phenomenal increase in the urban population of twin capital cities of Jammu, Srinagar and pilgrim town of Katra resulting in tremendous pressure on land and infrastructure leading to unauthorized development, which are not consistent with the concept of planned development provided in respective Master Plans and the relevant Acts and building bye-laws”.
Confessing that magnitude of violations is too huge, the draft said, “there are large number of buildings which have been constructed during the last 10/15 years in violation of Master Plans and their number is over 3000”, adding “this problem cannot be solved by sealing, demolition and forcible action alone as the number of families, who will be affected by this drive would be very large”.
It has also been mentioned in the draft that Government will constitute a high power committee of experts including eminent bureaucrats, planners and citizens to go into the depth of the reasons for the unauthorized constructions suggesting remedial measures including devising mechanisms for the regulation of building activity in these cities.
The committee will also suggest the fundamental principles for regularization or otherwise of the unauthorized constructions and the penal action for the regularization besides the institutional structure for the process of regularization.
The terms of reference of the committee will be to make an assessment about the magnitude of the problem of unauthorized constructions and misuse of premises; assess various types of violations and put them in broad categories in terms of the nature and extent of these violations; to identify the underlying causes leading to these violations; to recommend policy guidelines and development control norms for regulating construction activities in the respective local areas and to recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such violations in future including the structure and accountability of the enforcement machinery.
“Till the committee completes its report on the policy framework and the same is incorporated in the revised Master Plans of the respective areas, J&K Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act is required to be enacted in order to provide temporary relief to the people, who have violated the Master Plans”, the draft said, adding “the enactment of Special Provisions Act will have to be followed by the enforcement wings of the local authorities as there are apprehensions that the Act with a cut-off date without monitoring and accountability mechanism will trigger large scale illegal constructions drastically affecting the traffic, urban design and image of these cities”.
The draft bill, however, said that Act will not apply to buildings or structures which had not been completed on the date of commencement of this Act or which are currently under construction and buildings or structures constructed on public land, road or any other public utility. “The buildings or structures not complying with the directions with respect to safety, if any issued by the Government, would not come under the provisions of the Act”, the draft added.
By way of this Act, all the notices issued by any local authority for initiating action against unauthorized constructions or Master Plan violations in respect of areas to which this Act applies will be deemed to have been suspended till March 31, 2015 or until a policy is formulated by the Government, whichever is earlier, the draft said.
“If any local authority intends to take any punitive action against any person in respect of buildings or structures that have come up prior to the coming into force of this Act for contravening any provisions of the J&K Development Act, 1970, the J&K Municipal Act, 2000, J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 and J&K Control of Building Operations Act, 1988, prior permission of Administrative Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department or an officer authorized by him shall be obtained before taking any such action”, the draft further said.
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