Owner of corner residential plot 292/1 Channi Himmat Zonal Planned Colony, Ward-50 takes benefit of extra floor on basis of stilt floor residential but instead construct residential house at ground floor plus three floors all in equal size except 4th floor without maintaining setbacks under nose of JMC authorities

JMC changes definition of residential stilt floor which is a partially covered parking space on the ground floor of a commercial or residential building. Its height ranges from 2.4 m to 2.7m. A stilt floor is supported by pillars with all four sides open, it usually contains a generator room, switch room, society & information room, etc by allowing residential house instead of stilt floor residential
Owner successfully completed ground floor residential house instead of stilt floor residential but JMC didn’t take any action against owner and surprisingly despite all this , granted stage 2nd approved site plan in favour of owner vide No. 1940/JMC/BS/2022 dated 4-2-2023 allowing owner first and 2nd floor 162.45 Sqmtr and third floor 102.8 Sqmtr, front 4.11 mtr, rear 2.13 mtr, side-1, 3.20 mtr
Before approving stage 2nd site plan in favour of owner ,Building Officer Kapil Khajuria Surveyor Sandeep Kour visited the site in January 2023 but didn’t point out that owner hasn’t constructed stilt floor and infect constructed residential house without maintaining mandatory setbacks and recommended stage 2nd construction with remarks that the owner has raised projection beyond 60 cm which is converted into an ornamental/architectural feature raised after leaving required 2 m setback and that FAR and ground coverage have been maintained by owner as required
Owner now has completed four floors all in equal size except 4th floor similar to ground floor and at present plaster work is going on but till now JMC hasn’t taken any action against owner when he didn’t construct stilt floor residential and also height of building was also enhanced by owner and most importantly in the garb of constructing stilt floor, the owner got benefit of an extra floor but never constructed stilt floor residential and also covered more area against permitted coverage area
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, sep 21
With growing population and migration of people to cities for better opportunities, the demand to provide housing has increased. The cost of land has increased in major cities. The need for multistoried buildings increased. All the major municipal bodies of major cities have made mandatory to provide adequate parking spaces for all the units. It should be made mandatory to do proper design for buildings with stilt floor. Local bodies should ensure the sanctioned plan and design is followed during the construction, otherwise work should be stopped. But the same is neither done by JMC nor is proper supervision done by JMC enforcement staff resulting in boom in unauthorized constructions in Municipal areas.
To put the things in perspective, one Kasheka Bhalla daughter of Krishan Lal Vaid wife of Rohit Bhalla r/o House No.26, Garden Estatae, Sector-4, Extension, Trikuta Nagar Jammu purchased a corner residential plot No. 292/1 Channi Himmat Zonal Planned Colony measuring 40×80 Sqft in Ward 50 from original alottee from Simmi Khullar wife of Narinder Khullar in August 2021 costing worth crores. The owner accordingly got approved site Plan vide No. 127/JMC/BS/2022 dated 20-4-2022 for residential stilt floor only allowing owner 1970 Sqft (182.99 Sqm) against total plot area 297.28 Sqm (3200 Sqft) and open area 114.29 Sqm(1230 Sqft) coverage area 61.5 %, FAR 166.6MTR. The height of stilt floor 2.43 mtr(8 Sqft) floor level to slab instead of front road level. The owner was allowed front 3.35 mtr(11 ft), rear side 2.13 mtr(7 ft), Side-1, 6ft(1.83 mtr) . The owner accordingly paid building fee for permitted area Rs 12107 for stilt floor only.
However the owner contrary to approved site plan which was for stilt floor only constructed residential house with minimum height of 10 ft from front road level after cashing benefits of stilt floor but not constructing the same. It deserves mentioning here that residential stilt floor is a partially covered parking space on the ground floor of a commercial or residential building. Its height ranges from 2.4 m to 2.7m. A stilt floor is supported by pillars with all four sides open; it usually contains a generator room, switch room, society & information room, etc. The difference between stilt floor and ground floor is height level. Stilt is generally kept at 2.5m, while ground floor is minimum 3.0m.Since open spaces cave in during earthquakes, it should also be made mandatory to design earthquake resistant buildings. The column minimum dimension should be at least 300mm in stilt floor. Soil Investigation should be made mandatory for all buildings. But the owner didn’t observe any of parameters in case of residential stilt floor as per Unified Building Bye-laws 2021
Owner successfully completed ground floor residential house instead of stilt floor residential but JMC didn’t take any action against owner and surprisingly despite all this , granted stage 2nd approved site plan in favour of owner vide No. 1940/JMC/BS/2022 dated 4-2-2023 allowing owner first and 2nd floor 162.45 Sqmtr (1749 Sqft) and third floor 102.8 Sqmtr (1107 Sqft), front 4.11 mtr (13 ft), rear 2.13 mtr (7 ft), side-1, 3.20 mtr (10 ft). The height of the building was fixed 9.45 mtr (31 ft) from front road level. Worthwhile to mention here that before approving stage 2nd site plan in favour of owner ,Building Officer Kapil Khajuria Surveyor Sandeep Kour visited the site in January 2023 but didn’t point out that owner hasn’t constructed stilt floor as per approved site plan dated 20-4-2022 and infect constructed residential house without maintaining mandatory setbacks and recommended stage 2nd construction with remarks that the owner has raised projection beyond 60 cm which is converted into an ornamental/architectural feature raised after leaving required 2 m setback and that FAR and ground coverage have been maintained by owner as required.
Pertinent to mention here that owner now has completed four floors all in equal size similar to ground floor except 4th floor. Owner constructed ground plus two floors covering nearly 2500 Sqft and 4th floor covering nearly 2000 Sqft without maintaining setbacks and enhancing height also by 42 ft against allowed 31 ft plus stilt floor 8ft and at present plaster work is going on but till now JMC hasn’t taken any action against owner when he didn’t construct stilt floor residential and also height of building was also enhanced by owner and most importantly in the garb of constructing stilt floor, the owner got benefit of an extra floor but never constructed stilt floor residential and also covered more area against permitted coverage area. Commissioner JMC should initiate high level enquiry into this and should hold enforcement staff responsible for allowing unauthorized construction of four floors against stage-1st and stage-2nd approved site plan and also when owner took the benefit of an extra floor but didn’t construct stilt floor residential on the basis of which he was allowed an extra floor.