The Hindu : DDA okays another populist project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 18, 2003

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DDA okays another populist project

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI APRIL 17. Just a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of Delhi Development Authority and booked four senior officers including the then Vice-Chairman, Subhash Sharma, in a bribery scam pertaining to land use, the civic agency hastily cleared the populist proposal to allow mixed land use along roads with a minimum width of 13.5 metres in authorised colonies and 9 metres in unauthorised ones in gross violation of norms and without taking into consideration its impact on congestion through unplanned growth.

Though the proposal passed on April 28 at a meeting chaired by the Lieutenant-Governor -- will only be effective after the Union Urban Development Ministry notifies the change in Delhi Master Plan-2001, DDA decided to go ahead just as it had in the case of allowing alterations in flats and recommending declaration of 24 non-conforming colonies with 70 per cent industrial units as industrial areas.

However, as per experts, the mixed land use is not only violative of the Master Plan, it also seeks to frustrate the process of law as related matters are sub-judice.

Town Planner Gita Dewan Verma says that while the issue of commercial use of homes is sub-judice in the Supreme Court, the corollary issue of profiteering on planned commercial space is pending in High Court along with the matter of regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

In a letter to the Secretary in the Union Ministry of Urban Development, she has also objected to this on grounds of its flawed planning logic and disregard of due process of law for Plan modification. Also, she has expressed concern that this would lead to further unplanned development, inclusive of profiteering on public land, and consequent problems.

And since the CBI had along with the Vice-Chairman also charged Commissioner (Planning), Commissioner (Land Disposal) and Director (Lands) for corruption, Ms. Verma has sought information about the composition of the expert group that has recommended this approval, the techno-legal basis of this recommendation in terms of the mandatory planning data leading to it, the report of the Board constituted to scrutinise objections received in response to Public Notice of December 12, 2002, details of when and how MoUD proposes to inform the Courts in related sub-judice matters about this approval before notifying the Plan modification.

Above all, she has also demanded the reasons for rushing this Plan modification after the accused DDA Commissioner Planning, Vijay Risbud, had stated in the press and the DDA counsel had stated in High Court that the revised Plan will be placed before the public any time now. She has stated that as CBI has charged with criminal conspiracy the combination of top DDA officials that is indispensable to the subversion of the Master Plan to permit profiteering on public land, the mixed land use proposal too merits scrutiny.

The letter also states that it is wrong for DDA to say that the Master Plan 2001 has expired since as per law the Master Plan cannot expire. Also, saying the zonal development plans do not cover residential areas was inaccurate as they cover all uses in the zone.

Likewise, she noted that it was inaccurate to state that the present mixed land use policy had limited application as DDA did not have the mandatory monitoring data needed to distinguish planning failures from implementation failures. Moreover, DDA had no right to say that in the new Master Plan the expert group has made recommendations as no new Master Plan is permissible in law, nor has the revised Plan been finalised by due process.

Finally, she held that DDA's claim that the move will benefit around five lakh property owners who are using their residential premises for commercial purposes was also inaccurate as mandatory civic survey have not been carried out.

Stating that this type of modification will only jeopardise, rather than further, Plan goals, she said it will not further the purpose of mixed use regulations -- which was to ensure a balance between performance and nuisance and secure planned integration of uses but instead subvert the purpose and distort balanced development as envisaged in Plan by promoting haphazard and irregular commercialisation.

The DDA Member and MLA from Nasirpur, Mahabal Mishra, said though he had expressed dissent over the proposal, the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi and the ousted Vice-Chairman of DDA, Subhash Sharma, were keen on passing it.

The move, he said, was fraught with danger as it would lead to congestion in colonies and make many of them look like Walled City areas. "Also, it will lead to encroachment by the shopkeepers of service land left on roadsides.''

But most importantly, Mr. Mishra said, the move might lead to another land scandal as it would encourage corruption with property dealers trying to corner all roadside plots in connivance with corrupt DDA officials.

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