The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the three municipal corporations to formulate an action plan and offer suggestions for dealing with unauthorised constructions, especially buildings identified as illegal, in consultation with other agencies dealing with urban development and water and power supply. The commissioners of the corporations – East, South and North – appeared in person before a Division Bench in compliance with the court’s earlier order. The court asked them to take short-term and long-term measures to deal with illegal constructions across the city and stop “passing the buck”.
The Bench comprising Justice B. D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul directed that the Union Ministry of Urban Development, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority, and the Delhi Government’s Department of Urban Development be impleaded as respondents in a dozen public interest writ petitions which it is hearing.
The court was informed that there were 1.5 to 2 lakh unauthorised constructions in the Capital and the discoms and the DJB had not taken action to cut power and water supply to these buildings despite the request of municipal authorities. Moreover, the construction plans of these buildings could not be sanctioned as they violated the master plan.
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The three municipal officers who appeared in the court were South Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manish Gupta, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Pravin Kumar Gupta, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner S. Kumaraswamy. They submitted that “economic deterrents” could help curb unauthorised constructions .The SDMC Commissioner said not releasing water and giving electricity connections to the buildings that had not obtained completion certificate could be adopted . The present method of deploying engineers and police personnel to check illegal constructions would not work, he said.
Suggestions for sealing and demolition of unauthorised buildings, prosecution of individuals engaged in such constructions, disconnecting water and power supply, and asking the police to keep a watch on these properties were also made before the Bench.Posting the matter for hearing on October 15, the court asked the three commissioners to have another meeting and come out with an action plan while consulting the agencies impleaded in the case with the emphasis on the latter’s role. The Bench directed the respondents to file a status report on unauthorised constructions and action taken by them in accordance with the law for removing them.