JMC de-seals three floors commercial structure at 487-A Gandhi Nagar in Ward-21 on 27-7-2023 when serious violations are intact after sealing building on 13-7-2023 claiming that owner has raised construction which doesn’t look like residential construction as there are absolutely no partitions

Owner neither appealed against 7(3) demolition BOCA notice dated 22-8-2022 in any competent Court nor JMC sincerely implemented 7(3) notice when in this demolition notice it was categorically mentioned that if owner fails to demolish violated construction within five days the same will be done by JMC at the cost and risk of owner but the same was not implemented by JMC and as a result of which the violated structure is still intact
Owner as per guidance of JMC in the month of July 2023 pad-up bamboos to break slightly galleries extended unauthorized already possibly to hoodwink general public that violations were removed by owner and also if someone asks JMC ,they could tell them action being taken against owner hopefully to reduce owner’s violations to under 10% from 14.21 % violations each on two floors for compounding of same
Approved site plan was wrongly approved and was having serious drawbacks as area chart of approved site plan shows porch area as 180 Sqft but in the drawing of approved site plan the area of porch has been mentioned as 17×18 (306 Sqft). Moreover, Porch, Verandah, drawing room as per approved drawing of site plan was shown in straight line which is rarely witnessed having verandah and porch open that too were not constructed
Owner didn’t even construct the Porch and Verandah as was mentioned in approved site plan besides extending three ft gallery by terming it verandah on ground floor and infact constructed three big commercial halls all in equal size without maintaining setbacks from front and back side
When locals objected to commercial construction on residential plot , enforcement staff instead of taking action against owner befooled public that owner is raising residential construction and will do partition later besides they maintained that construction work has been stopped but that turned out mere eyewash as construction was never stopped and had the construction stopped owner would not have constructed three floors commercial structure
Moreover prime parameter of residential house is compound wall which is first of all constructed but the owner in the present case hasn’t constructed compound wall so far which itself is a testimony that construction is commercial which surprisingly JMC fails to see to take action against owner
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, aug 18
The callousness of JMC and its eyewash functioning has been exposed by this newspaper several times but every time the enforcement staff and even higher rank officials extended support and patronage to violators by staking JMP-2032 and even Unified Building Bye-laws 2021. In the recent case, JMC sealed the premises of one Ashok Kumar s/o late Omparkash r/o Gandhi Nagar Jammu got approved site plan on residential corner plot 487-A measuring 45×65 Sqft Ward-21 from JMC vide Order No. 827/JMC/BS/2021 dated 20-10-2021 on 13-7-2023 under section 8(1) BOCA Act 1988 vide No. JMC/Estt /4105-09 dated 12-7-2023 sealed the premises admitting that the owner was served notice under Section 7 (1) vide No. JMC/CEO/08/01/2022 dated 10-6-2022 after its enforcement staff reported that the owner was raising residential construction and the construction at the site doesn’t look like residential construction as there are absolutely no partitions but 100% in three floor commercial halls.
However owner while replying to this notice claimed that he has raised that ground plus two floors have been given partition walls strictly as per approved site plan which according to JMC was not based on facts and as a result of which the owner was served BOCA notice under Section 7(3) vide No.JMC/CEO/08/03/2022 dated 22-8-2022 along with violation chart in which JMC claimed that the owner has made violations of 270.25 Sqft on first floor and 2nd floor which becomes 14.21`% violations, 1 feet and 6 inch violations in height which is 3.89% violations. The notice further claimed that there are not much partition walls that could define this building as residential premises. The owner again while replying to this notice claimed that violations shown in notice are not correct and requested to re-examine measurement of building. The JMC accordingly did re-measurement and after re-measurement, JMC served owner statutory notice dated 19-12-2022 with direction to demolish violations within period of seven days, God knows what happened with regard to implementation of this notice but JMC claimed that another notice dated 17-2-2023 was served to owner for removal of extended gallery and raising partition walls within a period of ten days.
JMC further claimed that as per Enforcement Inspector report the extended galleries have been removed by owner. JMC after allowing violated construction of three commercial floors on residential plot after approving residential site plan sealed the building vide sealing order No. JMC/Estt/4105-09 dated 12-7-2023. This drama further continued when owner filed an application dated 14-7-2023 the very next day of sealing of building on 13-7-2023 before JMC to de-seal his building claiming that building was approved by JMC vide No. 827/JMC/BS/2021 dated 20-10-2021 and that he has rectified the extended gallery. Whereas when our team visited the site on 17-8-2023 on the complaint of locals found that whole three floors commercial structure was completely intact and nothing was demolished and the story published in this regard along with pictures on 11-8-2023 when the building was sealed was altogether the same and absolutely nothing was demolished which means that Enforcement Inspector wrongly reported that violations were removed by owner on the basis of which the de-sealing order was issued and as a result of which now the structure stands whit washed and three floors commercial structure is almost ready to operate.
Surprisingly JMC without cross-checking claims of owner de-sealed building vide No. JMC/Estt/4766-71 dated 27-7-2023 with the instructions to owner to remove the violations that is raising the partition walls as per the building permission and not to use it for any other purpose other than approved one and in case , building is not is use as per building permission same shall be sealed immediately without any notice by JMC. This also means that while issuing de-sealing order in favour of owner was not sure that violations have been removed that is why the owner was instructed to remove violations whereas JMC while serving de-sealing order should have been ensured that the violations are removed before serving de-sealing order.
It deserves mentioning here that while JMC was enacting BOCA notice-reply by owner drama and even de-sealed building , the owner successfully raised three commercial halls without any partition on residential plot even when itself claiming that owner though constructed residential house but without any necessary partitions including walls to give it look of residential construction without maintaining setbacks and that this violated construction has seriously affected planned development of Jammu city but surprisingly JMC in none of BOCA notices mention that the owner has constructed three commercial floors all in equal size without maintaining setbacks against approved residential approved site plan.
However the owner against the approved site plan started commercial construction by covering area of verandah and covered porch area on RCC Pillars and fitted windows on front side where there was Porch without leaving any space for mandatory setbacks particularly from front side which was mandatory besides mandatory space was also not left from backside and kept entrance from backside also. Not only this owner didn’t even construct the Porch for parking at the road level and Verandah as was mentioned in approved site plan besides extending three ft gallery by terming it verandah on ground floor and infact constructed three big commercial halls. The owner likewise constructed first and 2nd floor as big commercial halls all in equal size covering nearly 2300 Sqft each. Moreover, Porch, Verandah, drawing room as per approved drawing of site plan was shown in straight line which is rarely witnessed having verandah and porch open.
In light of above, one thing is sure that JMC hasn’t done its duty otherwise three floors commercial halls would have never been constructed by owner on residential plot and all the BOCA notices proved mere eyewash as at the site there exists three full-fledged commercial halls which JMC conveniently ignored while serving BOCA notices to owner. Commissioner JMC should look into this on priority basis failing which these violated constructions will badly damage JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws -2021.