The warning from the High Court to the Srinagar Municipal Corporation over illegal constructions in Gogji Bagh exposes a deeply troubling pattern of inaction, complacency, and possible complicity. Far from being the custodian of Srinagar’s urban order, the SMC appears to have abandoned its core responsibility of safeguarding planned development. The case in question is not about a stray building violation; it concerns 22 major breaches of the Master Plan compounded by the J&K Special Tribunal, which itself lacked the jurisdiction to pass such orders under the Control of Building Operations Act and the Municipal Corporation Act. These are not minor deviations but fundamental distortions of zoning rules, setbacks, and land use permissions. Shockingly, the Corporation never challenged these orders, allowing violators to operate with impunity.
The Gogji Bagh case exemplifies this decay. Permission granted for two residential houses was brazenly converted into a three-storey commercial guest house. Instead of enforcing its own order and penalising the violators, SMC facilitated their designs by issuing an amended order. When the protector of urban order becomes a party to its subversion, what faith can residents repose in governance? Equally disturbing is the Tribunal’s role. Despite having no mandate to compound such serious violations, it legalised what ought never to have been regularised. That such orders were passed without even hearing the Corporation’s counsel or affected residents raises serious questions about procedural fairness. Yet, even after the High Court flagged these issues as early as 2020, the SMC has preferred slumber over action.
The High Court’s growing impatience is understandable. Queries have gone unanswered, affidavits delayed, and promises of corrective measures remain hollow. The warning is now explicit: either SMC files a comprehensive affidavit on action taken, or the Court will pass adverse orders. This is not just a judicial reprimand-it is a stinging indictment of institutional dereliction. What is most striking is that it took the vigilance of Gogji Bagh residents to bring these violations to light. Citizens have stepped up where the Corporation failed. Urban order cannot survive if regulators themselves are complicit. The SMC must now demonstrate through concrete action that it exists for the people of Srinagar, not for violators of the law.
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