As per Appendix-D, Section (A) non compoundable items include coverage under UBBL-2021, FAR, Setbacks, open spaces, total height of building, number of floors, parking norms, light and ventilation provisions, land use, access road requirement. It is highly questionable on part of Dy Commissioner South how violations of owner from front side, rear side and excess height were compounded
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.
Notice served to owner under section 253 (1) of J&K Municipal Act 2000 vide No. JMC/DC/ENF/S/385-88 dated 4-1-2025 didn’t 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 two ft galleries on three floors and iron stairs from backside despite JMC attaching photograph clicked on 20 Dec 2024 of violated structure clearly indicating 2 ft extended galleries on three floors. This three floors commercial structure is quite visible from backside as there are no partition walls
GY CORRESPONDENT
JAMMU, MAY 23
It is now an established fact that JMC initially itself allows violated construction especially commercial construction on residential plots and when aggrieved citizens raise their voice against such violations they exploit Building section led by Building Officer and Surveyor who out of way reduce violations just below compoundable range and hide actual violations at the site which is being happily done by owners by paying meager amount and manage to regularize their violated construction notwithstanding serious nature violation of land use change from residential to commercial which is not at all allowed under jmp-2032, UBBL-2021 and JMC Act 2000.
Similar thing has happened in case of one Vishav Deepak Suri s/o Krishan Lal Suri attorney holder of residential plot trapezium in look 250-C measuring 1457 .50 sqft in Sector-2 Ward-50 Channi Himmat Housing Board Zonal Planned Colony from original alottee Chander Bhushan s/o Tarlok Nath who got approved residential site plan approved from JMC vide No. 1430/JMC/BS/2021 dated 22-2-2022 valid for three years. 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 12.6 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 and also brick stairs inside also which was strongly objected by immediate neighbors in Ward-51 disturbing their privacy and thus completely changing both internal and external dimensions against approved residential site plan.
JMC initially deliberately delayed action against owner Chander Bhushan original alottee to continue violated construction and when three floors commercial halls heading near completion besides setbacks were not observed by owner plus height also extended and also extended 2 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 two ft galleries on three floors and iron stairs from backside despite JMC attaching photograph clicked on 20 Dec 2024 of violated structure clearly indicating 2 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.
Following which Dy Commissioner South JMC vide his letter No. JMC/Enf/6020-24 dated 27-3-2025 directed owner Chander Bhushan that on his plea to measure violations which are below 10% , Building Section of JMC took measurement and calculated compounding fee Rs 1940 and directed owner to deposit compounding fee in the Municipal chest of JMC within seven days from the receipt of this notice. The letter further claimed that the compounding shall be subject to condition that owner will not commit any further violations and in case owner makes any further violations after the acceptance of compounding fee, the compounding so effected shall cancelled abinitio and action warranted under law shall be taken against owner. In the letter , there was no mention of specimens of violations whether from front side backside, commercial construction .The owner however deposited compounding fee Rs 1940 well before the scheduled time. Surprisingly as per compounding chart 2.90 sqm(31.25 sqft violations recorded on ground, first and 2nd floor costing compounding fee Rs 580 each on three floors making total compounding fee Rs 1940 which was nothing more than a joke as violations are much more than recorded at the site as stairs from backside, three commercial halls without any walls partitions, excess height had no mention in violation chart.
However after depositing compounding fee, the attorney holder Suri raised 4th floor excluding Mumty (100 ft) measuring 500 Sqft with bedroom small kitchen and toilet in the month of May 2025 wherein slab work will be completed in couple of days when owner’s site plan had lapsed on 21-2-2025. The owner also raised additional brick stairs from backside covering kitchen area besides now owner raising big size brick pillars measuring nearly 3 ft wide towards front side. The owner also closed windows of bedroom on ground floor when as per compounding conditions that owner will not commit any further violations and in case owner makes any further violations after the acceptance of compounding fee, the compounding so effected shall cancelled abinitio and action warranted under law shall be taken against owner.It is highly questionable that outgoing Enforcement Inspector Varun Kesar didn’t take notice of further violated construction after owner deposited compounding fee and new Enforcement Inspector Gurmeet Kour didn’t object to present ongoing construction of pillars towards front side and closing window of bedroom on ground floor.
It deserves mentioning here that as per Appendix-D, Section (A) non compoundable items include coverage under UBBL-2021, FAR, Setbacks, open spaces, total height of building, number of floors, parking norms, light and ventilation provisions, land use, access road requirement. It is highly questionable on part of Dy Commissioner South how violations of owner from front side, rear side and excess height were compounded. 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.
