JMC enforcement staff allows construction of commercial site shop 10 in Sector-3, Channi Himmat ignoring refusal of JMC and Housing Board to approve afresh commercial site plan when earlier approved site plan lapsed eight years ago

Owner while applying afresh site plan claimed that she has already constructed ground floor shop by covering 300 Sqft which is total area at the site but in reality upto 9-9-2023, there was only steel rods hanging without cement, sand and gravel but started construction on 10-9-2023 knowing well that under JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 she is only entitled 70 % construction and mandatory to leave 30% towards front side for parking purposes within premises
Owner getting no approval for afresh approved site plan from JMC and also no NOC from Housing Board with help of enforcement staff particularly Ram Khajuria who is mastermind for allowing unauthorized construction started construction of commercial shop on 10-9-2023 covering hundred percent area of 300 Sqft and as per sources the owner has also occupied 79 ft surplus land at the site without paying anything for it
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, sep 13
One Ramesh Chander s/o Late Ram Dass r/o Sunjwan Jammu purchased a commercial shop site-10 in Channi Himmat Housing Board Colony ,Ward-50 in 1999 measuring 12.6×24 ft (300 Sqft) . After death of Ramesh Chander, Housing Board transferred lease hold rights in favour of Sudershana Devi wife of Late Ramesh Chander vide No. JKHB/58//2012 dated 3-6-2012 after depositing transfer fee Rs 5000 on the basis of Court Decree. Sudershana Devi after becoming legal heir of commercial shop got sanctioned approved site plan vide No. 358/BS/2012 dated 7-7-2012. Under then applicable JMP-2021 , the owner was allowed to construct 300 ft ground and first floor each which was valid for three years. But the owner didn’t start construction within validity of approved site plan up to 9-9-2023 after raising only pillars using steel only along with plinth work initially after becoming legal heir of commercial shop site 10 but didn’t under take further construction. In all this the approved site plan which was only valid for three years as per then applicable JMP-2021 lapsed and the owner didn’t start construction of shop for eleven long years. However, the owner dated 20-10-2022 applied for afresh permission vide Application No. JMC/2022/3221. As per sources , the JMC has not approved any commercial site plan of shop in favour of owner besides no NOC provided by Housing Board as on date to JMC to approve site plan in favour of owner.
It deserves mentioning here that the owner while applying afresh for approved site plan from JMC wrongly mentioned that ground floor shop has already been constructed covering 300 Sqft on the basis of site plan approved in the year 2012 but at the site up to 9-9-2023 there was no construction of ground floor shop and actually started fresh construction on 10-9-2023 without approval of site plan from JMC. The owner did it purposefully as under JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021, the owner is entitled to cover only 70% plot area and it is mandatory on all to leave 30% open area from front side for parking purpose within premises. The owner notwithstanding all this, started construction of commercial shop on 10-9-2023 covering hundred percent area of 300 Sqft by filling pillars and raising brick walls and changing dimensions of earlier approved site plan in 2012 which by now has already lapsed and as per sources the owner has also occupied 79 ft surplus land at the site with the help of enforcement staff deploid in Ward-50 but without getting site plan approved from JMC. As enforcement staff extending all possible help to owner, question doesn’t arise to serve any BOCA notices to owner and as a result of which the owner undergoing construction of commercial site -10 shop on ground floor without getting site plan approved from JMC and NOC from Housing Board and the shops on either side of this shop in question were already constructed in time and the enquiry can also be made from them about actual date of start of this construction.
It is very unfortunate to note that as per roaster of duty for enforcement staff, they are duty bound to perform their duties honestly, besides duty bound to conduct extensive checking in the allotted wards and make proper detailed list of ongoing constructions in their respective area of jurisdiction. But had it been so, no one would have dared to undertake unauthorized constructions in Zonal planned colonies and precious time of J&K Special Tribunal and RTI Activists would have been saved.
Also they are duty bound to maintain proper registers of each ward and take action against violators as admissible under rules with proper entry on action taken report register. But surprisingly when Enforcement staff is informed by locals about violated construction they often say that they will visit the site and will look into but if they maintain register the violations should be at finger tips for immediate action.
In reality they don’t submit action taken report to concerned I/c EO/AEO for its onward submission to Secretary /Dy Commissioner (North) for action under rules as per relevant provision of law in vogue. As a result of which I/c EO/AEO don’t get action reports confirmed or counter checked by Secretary /Dy Commissioner (North) on weekly basis . In light of above ,the need of the hour is to make necessary reforms in functioning of JMC otherwise the way JMC is functioning presently it will prove disastrous for JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 also. Commissioner JMC should take serious cognizance of this and should hold Enforcement staff responsible for remaining silent and not reporting violations at initial stage .
Unauthorized constructions which are flourishing by leaps and bounds have allegedly turned into a money minting shop for a section of employees in Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) resulting into haphazard growth of buildings in utter violation of Jammu Master Plan and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 besides inflicting potential revenue loss in the shape of building permission fees.
This situation has assumed such an alarming proportion that despite the honest intentions of whistle blowers and RTI Activists to curb long prevailing corrupt practices in the organization by implementing various transparency measures, allegations have come flying thick and fast against some enforcement inspectors for collecting money on the name of their superiors for dropping BOCA action against illegal constructions.