Plan to legalise unauthorised constructions in north Delhi

Civic body says difficult to demolish structures; better to earn revenue from it

In a relief to owners of flats with unauthorised constructions or illegal extensions in north Delhi, the municipal corporation on Friday passed a resolution to bring all such constructions till December 2016 under the legal framework.

The Standing Committee of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation cleared the proposal saying it’s difficult to demolish all unauthorised constructions in the city.

The civic body will announce a one-time amnesty scheme, which will allow residents to get approval for illegal constructions that do not completely violate the building by

- laws.

The proposal, which has been passed in principle by the committee, will be sent to the Ministry of Urban Development for final approval.

‘95% illegal construction’

North Corporation’s Standing Committee chairperson Tilak Raj Kataria said at least 95% of the residential areas under the corporation have some portion which is illegally constructed.

“It is difficult for any government to raze all of these unauthorised constructions. It will be better if we bring these under the ambit of law and also earn some revenue for the civic body in the process,” said Mr. Kataria.

According to the corporation’s plan, owners of buildings with unauthorised constructions till December 2016 can get their flats approved by getting a safety certificate from an authorised architect and an affidavit stating that no portion of the construction is encroaching upon government land.

The owner will then have to pay a penalty along with the circle rate of the property.

Though the penalty structure is yet to be finalised, Mr. Kataria said that this scheme is likely to boost the civic body’s revenue by ₹5,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore, which would solve many of its financial problems.

Easing tension

“This initiative will ease the tension of many houseowners who have made minor changes to their structure, but are well within the building by-laws. The money we would get from the penalties would help us initiate development activities. This will also stop corruption which is rampant in the name of construction in Delhi,” he said.

To make sure that the move does not encourage unauthorised constructions, the committee has ordered that all illegal structures built after the stipulated date will be demolished.

“This gives the civic body an opportunity to stop the mushrooming of unauthorised constructions. We will have a clean slate now,” Mr. Kataria said.

Opposition unimpressed

The Opposition, however, opposed the move saying that it will only benefit the builders and building mafia instead of the common people.

“The corporation has tried to bring about this amnesty scheme twice in the past and has reaped no benefit from it. We are not against this scheme if the poor living in unauthorised colonies gain from it. But the provisions do not make sense,” said Congress leader Mukesh Goel.