Owner didn’t raise residential construction on ground floor like bedroom, lobby, kitchen, toilet and also cut out for ventilation and also staircase towards front side was also not constructed but to hoodwink general public and JMC Authorities kept 2 ft size two windows and small size door 2 ft in size in middle of these two windows to show construction being residential as walls adjoin with it was deliberately constructed as temporary walls with a intention to remove them easily and also didn’t leave area as mandatory in setbacks like the owner left front 10.6ft when he was duty bound to leave 12.5 ft besides extending 2 ft gallery on three floors t and also installed round iron stairs from ground to third floor
Owner earlier raising walls to hoodwink construction being residential has removed those walls and now at present raising walls on extended galleries nowhere mentioned in approved site plan which is evident from the pictures clicked by locals on 19-12-2024. From view of ongoing construction, even a layman can predict construction being commercial and there is no sign of construction being residential but sadly none of Enforcement Inspectors deployed from time to time report these violations but noting substantiate done in this regard.
GY CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, FEB 28
It seems bizarre but a reality also that the professional duties ought to be performed by JMC in real sense being performed by Golden Yug newspaper which has been acting as whistle blower and from time to time awakes JMC regarding unauthorized constructions in Channi Himmat area but JMC instead of taking befitting action against violators as per JMC Act 2000/ UBBL-2021 infect makes every possible efforts to save violated constructions by deliberately delaying timely action and later taking eyewash action to save their skin and for record sake that JMC safeguarding JMC Act 2000/UBBL-2021 under extreme public pressure. Further Building Section/Surveyor with help of concerned enforcement staff then absorb violations at the site in favour of violators and in a way on their own declare violated construction as per approved site plan against JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 claiming no violations at the site and in some cases bring down violations below 10% so that JMC remains competent to compound violations at its own level and surprisingly same is not cross-checked by those who are at the helm of affairs in JMC.
To put the things in perspective, Golden Yug newspaper published three stories that one Vishav Deepak Suri s/o Krishan Lal Suri a resident of Channi Himmat owner of residential plot 250-C in Sector-2 Ward-50 Channi Himmat Housing Board Zonal Planned Colony raising commercial construction on residential plot after getting residential site plan from JMC but JMC initially deliberately delayed action against owner to continue violated construction and when three floors commercial halls heading near completion besides setbacks were not observed by owner and also extended 3 ft galleries on three floors under extreme public pressure, JMC served owner an eyewash notice under provision of section 253 (1) of J&K Municipal Act 2000 vide No. JMC/DC/ENF/S/385-88 dated 4-1-2025 claiming that as per report of concerned enforcement Inspector that the owner has raised construction against approved site plan without following norms and mandatory setbacks as per UBBL-2021. As per notice then Building section took measurement of the building which was wrongly done by claiming owner was allowed residential ground floor, first floor and 2nd floor 960 sqft each but owner constructed three floors 912.6 Sqft each projecting nil violations. Similarly owner was mandatory to maintain front setback as 12 ft- 6 inch but owner left 11 ft-3 inch making violation of 1 ft -3 inch, with regard to rear side ,the owner was duty bound to leave 7 ft-9 inch but left 6 ft-3 inch making violations of 1 ft-6 inch besides sanctioned height of building was 33 ft but owner extended height up to 36 ft
But it is surprising to note that in the notice, there was no mention that the owner in reality has raised three commercial floors without internal partition of walls against residential approved site plan on residential plot besides no mention of three ft galleries on three floors and iron stairs from backside despite JMC attaching photograph of violated structrure clearly indicating 3 ft extended galleries on three floors. This three floors commercial structure is quite visible from backside as there are no partition walls . Thus three floors commercial structure is full intact and infect this notice has proved counter-productive for owner as in a sense the owner has been given consent to continue with commercial construction on residential plot after getting approved site plan as residential.
The owner was served 48 hours ultimatum to reply to this notice as to why action as warranted under section 253 of JMC Act 2000 read with UBBL-2021 may not be initiated against owner. The owner however stopped ongoing commercial construction for some time and then reply to this notice by claiming that my violations are below 10% and should be compounded which was actually pre-decided ploy in serving notice to owner to somehow bring the violations below 10% and then very easily to secure the violated commercial construction of three floors commercial hall as JMC authorities are patronizing this violated construction and this is the reason JMC instead of taking follow-up action after serving owner notice under section 253 proceeded towards compounding violations and protect violated commercial construction of owner on residential plot. As a result of which at present the plaster work on three floors is going on at the site within supervision of concerned JMC enforcement staff.
It deserves mentioning here that Vishav Deepak Suri s/o Krishan Lal Suri a resident of Channi Himmat purchased a residential plot 250-C in Sector-2 Ward-50 Channi Himmat Housing Board Zonal Planned Colony from one Chander Bhushan s/o Tarlok Nath r/o 20-A Gandhi Nagar Jammu having total plot area measuring 25 x54+ 65/2 (1487 .50 Sqft) through power of attorney on 29-6-2022 and thereafter got transferred plot on his name from Housing Board. It deserves mentioning here that Vishav Deepak Suri s/o Krishan Lal Suri started commercial construction on the residential site plan got approved by Chander Bhushan s/o Tarlok Nath r/o 20-A Gandhi Nagar Jammu from JMC vide No. 1430/JMC/BS/2021 dated 22-2-2022 which was valid for three years and expired on 21-2-2025.
According to approved site plan in favour of Chander Bhushan, the owner was allowed ground plus two floors measuring 960 Sqft each with setback including front -12 ft 6 inch, Rear- 7 ft 9 inch. The height of three floors structure excluding Mumty was allowed 33 ft from front road level and accordingly paid residential building fee Rs 6720 for permitted construction area and also paid labour cess Rs 34560. The owner as per approved residential site plan was to construct two bedrooms measuring 12 ft-9 inch x 10ft-8 inch, stairs in case of duplex house 12 ft 3 inch towards front side , backside toilet and cut out on three floors measuring 9x6ft towards residential plot 250-D/2 towards left side for ventilation to lobby ,Kitchen and bedroom and backside dressing room and verandah also on three floors. Similarly first and 2nd floors were allowed same as per ground floor except balcony on first and 2nd floors and infect whole construction raised deviating from approved residential site plan.
The owner didn’t raise residential construction on ground floor like bedroom, lobby, kitchen, toilet and also cut out for ventilation and also staircase towards front side was also not constructed but to hoodwink general public and JMC Authorities kept 2 ft size two windows and small size door 2 ft in size in middle of these two windows to show construction being residential as walls adjoining with it was deliberately constructed as temporary walls with a intention to remove them easily and also didn’t leave area as mandatory in setbacks like the owner left front 10.6 ft when he was duty bound to leave 12.5 ft besides extending 2 ft gallery on three floors also didn’t kept open area of plot 527 sqft and also installed round iron stairs from ground to third floor towards rear side which was supposed to keep vacant but covered by owner which was strongly objected by immediate neighbors disturbing their privacy and thus completely changing both internal and external dimensions against approved residential site plan.
In light of above, Commissioner JMC should take serious cognizance of this commercial construction going on residential plot failing which if they continue to give long rope to violators and unnecessary freedom to enforcement staff, the way at which commercial construction going on residential plots it will soon convert Channi Himmat Zonal planned colony into commercial hub which will be violation of fundamental right of right to peace of law abiding citizens who have purchased residential plots to live with peace and comfort but definitely they are repenting buying a residential plot in Channi Himmat due to favour of enforcement staff to owner against JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021.
