JMC enforcement staff hand in gloves with owner of residential site 76/5, Ward-50 Channi Himmat in allowing three floor commercial construction in name of revised drawing proposal of existing ground floor without maintaining setbacks against Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 and JMP-2032

Owner with a consideration of sudden rise in price of commercial sites in Channi Himmat dropped his mind to raise residential construction as nearby surroundings of this residential plot, there were already well established business units including Varmani Shopping Mall. The owner to execute his commercial plan applied for fresh residential site plan from JMC to modify existing ground floor built in the year 2009-2010 and to enhance and cover already left area from backside besides willingness to demolish existing Porch as per Unified Building Bye-laws 2021
Owner after getting revised site plan residential started and raised altogether commercial construction without any partition of walls when he was supposed to construct Verandah, Drawing room, Bedroom towards front side but were not constructed besides lift provision inside premises and also staircase raised in place of demolished porch to arrive at onwards floors which was not permitted as per approved site plan and also sanctioned cut was also not observed by owner on any of floors
Surprisingly in the report of Building Officer, there was no mention of actual and exact violation as it was simply reported that there was violations at side set back which was aimed to somehow shield violated construction of owner whereas there were serious nature violations on existing ground floor and which were compounded further by completely changing internal and external dimensions after getting approved first floor site plan which were ignored by JMC field staff
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, jun 19
Jammu Municipal Corporation is playing with sanctity of approved site plans as the field staff hell-bent to allow owners their choice constructions against approved site plans and in most cases from residential to commercial besides allowing violations of site plans in the name of modification and extending areas of existing construction against JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 .To put things in right perspective, one Mangal Dass son of Ganda Mal r/o 368 Shastri Nagar Jammu purchased residential plot 76/5 measuring 40×80 (3200 Sqft) in Ward 50 Channi Himmat Jammu on main road of Channi Himmat Housing Board Colony in front of Varmani Shopping Mall from original alottee Ishwar Chander Sharma son of Bodh Raj Sharma r/o 717-A, Gandhi Nagar Jammu costing worth Rs 170000 as per agreement in court of law and the same was transferred in his name in the record of Housing Board vide No. HB-6013-14 dated 24-3-2006 after paying Rs 32000 as transfer fee and got lease hold rights.
Thereafter the owner got approved site plan from JMC vide No. 1008/BS/09 dated 2-9-2009. As per approved site plan ,the owner allowed to construct ground floor- 1349 Sqft, Porch-180 Sqft and first floor 1132 Sqft with open area as 1671 Sqft. The owner was mandatory to observe setbacks including Front- 24 ft, 6 Inch, Rear-10 ft, Side-1, 10 ft. The height of building including Mumty was fixed 30 ft ,6 Inch. The owner accordingly paid fee Rs 6851 for permitted construction area. The owner as per approved site plan was supposed to construct Verandah followed by Drawing room joined by bedroom and attached toilet room towards front side and back of it Living/Dining room and then Kitchen and the owner as per approved site plan raised ground floor residential besides also constructed Porch towards residential plot 77/5 and not constructed first floor
However the owner with a consideration of sudden rise in price of commercial sites worth crores in Channi Himmat Housing Board colony dropped his mind to raise residential construction as nearby surroundings of this residential plot, there were already well established business units including Varmani Shopping Mall. The owner to execute his commercial plan applied for fresh residential site plan from JMC to modify existing ground floor built in the year 2009-2010 and to enhance and cover already left area from backside besides willingness to demolish existing Porch as per Unified Building Bye-laws 2021. As a result of which Building Officer Kapil Sharma and Surveyor Sandeep Kour visited the site on 28-7-2023 and reported that ground floor is existing at the site and the violated portion at the site was demolished by owner from backside setback and recommended that the fresh proposal of owner seeking enhancement of area first and 2nd floor for residential house from backside conform to UBBL 2021 and JMP-2032.
The Owner in light of above got approved revised site plan from JMC vide No. 1154/JMC/BS/2023-24 dated 12-9-2023 allowing owner enhanced existing ground floor residential 19.78 Sqm ( 213 Sqft), new floor-1st and 2nd floor residential 161.89 Sqm each ( 1742 Sqft) . New setbacks fixed included front 5.48 mt( 18 ft), Rear- 2.01 mtr( 7 ft) , Side-1, 2.01 mt ( 7 ft). The revised height was fixed was 12 mtr(39 ft). The owner accordingly paid fee Rs 18909 for permitted construction area. However there was no revision of existing approved site plan towards front side. But the owner after getting revised site plan residential started and raised altogether commercial construction without any partition of walls when he was supposed to construct Verandah, Drawing room, Bedroom towards front side but were not constructed on existing ground floor besides lift provision inside premises and also staircase raised in place of demolished porch to arrive at onwards floors which was not permitted as per approved site plan and also sanctioned cut was also not observed by owner on any of floors . The owner also didn’t maintain mandatory setbacks. Now fully commercial structure having three equal floors commercial stands raised at the site but so far JMC has not moved even an inch what to think of serving any BOCA notices to owner for raising commercial construction on residential plot after getting residential approved site plan and openly making land use change without JDA /JMC permission.
The owner with help of enforcement staff deputed in the area in the name of modification of ground floor completely changed internal and external dimensions at ground floor and as a result of which now violated commercial construction of three floors is completed and construction of 4th floor as on date is going on with the help of enforcement staff completely against approved site plan and without any doubt, the owner is raising commercial construction on residential plot. Surprisingly in the report of Building Officer, there was no mention of actual and exact violation as it was simply reported that there was violations at side set back which was aimed to somehow shield violated construction of owner whereas there were serious nature violations on existing ground floor and which were compounded further by completely changing internal and external dimensions after getting approved first floor site plan which were ignored by JMC field staff. Commissioner JMC should seriously introspect the functioning of JMC as the field staff allowing violated construction at per their will and most importantly as per the sweet will of owner and when both joined hands, JMC enforcement staff conveniently forgotten the guidelines of JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021.