Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 1: Division Bench of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, comprising Justice Dheeraj Singh Thakur and Justice Puneet Gupta has taken a serious note of the failure of the Municipal Committees and Municipal Councils to frame Building By Laws Regulations, Master Plans or Building Schemes.
Deciding a Letter Patents Appeal after hearing Advocate Vilakshan Singh for the appellant and Advocate SS Nanda, Sr AAG and Advocate Suresh Sharma for the respondents, the court observed that the Building By Laws and Master Plans have been framed for cities of Jammu and Srinagar but some of the smaller towns governed by Municipal Committees and Municipal Councils are still having no building By-Laws, Master Plans or Schemes.
The court also found it understandable as to how in the absence of a Master Plan, Building By Laws and Regulations, Municipal Committee Sunderbani, to which the matter pertained, was proceeding to exercise powers sanctioning the plans and compounding the building violations.
The court held that net result of the omission to frame By laws and regulations on the part of Municipal bodies or the Deputy Commissioners of the respective Districts is that the large scale construction activity is being permitted to go on without any sort of regulation whatsoever. The right to enjoy civil rights in a locality in a peaceful and orderly manner having adequate amount of sunshine, free flow of air and access/use of public roads and utilities is not a right which can be denied to citizens living in smaller cities and towns, observed the court.
Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, the court directed all the Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers/ executive officers of Municipal Committees and Municipal Councils to file affidavits as to whether the provisions of the Municipal Act 2000 have been complied with in their respective districts/municipal committees/municipal councils by way of framing of town planning schemes/master plans and building By Laws for an orderly development and regulations of building activities in their respective regions. The court further directed that the affidavits so filed should state reasons for inaction and proposed time lines within which the same shall be framed. The court directed the matter to be registered and taken up as a PIL.
The High Court also held that neighbours have locus to file petitions for seeking enforcement of provisions of Municipal Act and for challenging the illegal composition of building violations by the Municipal authorities.
Follow our WhatsApp channel