KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, March 6: Jharkhand High Court reprimanded the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) for not complying with the directives about building construction in the steel city.
Justice R Mukhopadhyay and Justice Deepak Roshan of the high court rebuked the civic body during a hearing of a PIL (No 2078/2018) on Wednesday.
Approved building plans
The bench took strong exception to the civic body’s neglect of the high court’s directives to take necessary action against those who had constructed buildings in deviation from approved building plans and also turned parking spaces into commercial spaces.
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Filed by social activist Rakesh Jha, the PIL was aimed at bringing the building construction activities under the JNAC command area into shape.
JNAC sealed 46 buildings in 2011
Revealing the development, advocate Akhilesh Shrivastav and advocate Rohit Sinha, who pleaded on behalf of the petitioner, said that the civic body had sealed 46 buildings in 2011 for constructing them in deviation from the approved plan and letting shops and business establishments use the parking spaces.
According to advocate Shrivastav, sealing any building for violating the approved building plan means dismantling the deviated portion.
JNAC removed the sealings
“But as soon as the high court passed a final judgement about a WP PIL 1076/2011, instructing necessary action against violators, the JNAC removed the sealings instead. As a result of such lackadaisical attitude of the civic body, wishful construction by the builders started flourishing, resulting in the construction of as many as 1,246 buildings in deviation of the approved plans across the JNAC command area since then, ” advocate Shrivastav said in a statement given to The Jharkhand Story.
The high court has instructed a special team to revisit Jamshedpur and submit a report after meticulously studying the buildings set up in deviation from the approved plan. The court stressed that the matter assumes much seriousness as it involves the wishful construction of as many as 1,246 buildings.
Special team to focus on three points
While instructing for a fresh study, the high court has asked the special team to focus on three points. The three points are finding out the role of the JNAC in allowing such a large number of buildings to be constructed in deviation from approved plans, the action taken by the civic body in the light of a high court order passed in the year 2011 and the kind of irregularities committed in passing the building plans as well as rectifying them and how many of these buildings were issued permission for setting up additional floors.
The next date of the hearing is scheduled for April 9.