JMC must answer despite serving two BOCA notices under Section 7(3) & 8(1) to owner of residential plot 67 A/D Gandhi Nagar, how violated structure reached three floors without maintaining setbacks and covering more area against permitted

JMC claims in sealing notice that owner has raised construction at ground, first and 2nd floor against approved building plan and that this violated construction seriously affects the planned development of Jammu city and contravenes zoning regulation but didn’t take any follow-up action
JMC pretends that action under 7(3) could not be initiated against owner as executive Engineer Division-III, JMC has given opinion that in case of demolition of cantilever part of building may cause collateral damage to rest of structure on which cantilever rests which was a ploy to save violated construction of owner
Owner didn’t approach any competitive Court against BOCA notices neither against 7(3) nor 8 (1) knowing very well that violations done at site will never ever be entertained by Competitive Courts and hence approach JMC with surety of getting unfair favour helped him to constructed three violated floors all in equal size against approved site plan
JMC while replying to RTI application wrongly claimed that the owner was allowed 40% construction which means ground plus two floors all 3600 Sqft according to JMP-2032 whereas as per approved site plan, the owner was allowed ground floor as 2968 Sqft with 180 Sqft porch when permitted coverage area was 32.98 %
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, apr 14
One Dev Anand Kalra s/o Narian Dass purchased a residential plot 67 A/D Gandhi Nagar Jammu measuring 75×120( 9000 Sqft) having existing residential construction and wide approaching road both from front and backside from original alottee. Accordingly the owner got approved residential site plan from JMC vide No. 449/BS/2017 dated 10-1-2018 allowing owner ground floor 2968 Sqft with porch 180 Sqft making it total 3148 Sqft, first & 2nd floor 2968 Sqft each with ground coverage 32.98 % and open area 5852 Sqft as per JMP-2032. The owner was duty bound to observe mandatory setbacks including front 40 ft, Side-1 & Side-II 10 ft each and rear 12 ft with height 40 ft and accordingly paid building fee and labour cess Rs 109008. The owner however during 2019-2020 started construction against approved site plan by first of all constructing basement covering more than 3000 Sqft as per local sources which was not sanctioned in approved site plan and the same was not located by Building Officer and Surveyor claiming due to shuttering after their visit on locals complaints. In addition to this huge violation, the owner also violated construction of ground floor without construction of Porch on right side and also constructed first and 2nd floor equal in size without maintaining setbacks. The locals living neighboring vicinity in a row strongly protested this violated construction seriously blocking their ventilation and sunlight as the height of compound wall from backside is nearly 8ft and badly damaging a well laid down symmetry
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existing round this residential plot and even approached JMC higher-ups but nothing was done in this regard due to involvement of JMC enforcement staff deputed in Gandhi Nagar area in this violative construction resulting in continuity of this violative construction and did not serve any BOCA notice to owner. JMC meantime under huge public pressure when plaster work of floors was going on, JMC served owner demolition BOCA notice under section 7(3) vide No. MJ/CEO/182/3/2019 dated 23-1-2020. Earlier with a aim to extend suitable time to owner to raise his violative construction and to kill time, JMC also served owner BOCA notice under section 7(1) and statuary notices but didn’t follow-up the proceedings further. According to JMC notice under section 7(3) vide No. MJ/CEO/182/3/2019 dated 23-1-2020, the violations were basement-1 not sanctioned and the same could not be seen due to shuttering work, ground floor was constructed measuring 3476.25 Sqft against sanctioned 3148 Sqft including porch area and first and 2nd floor also 3476 Sqft against sanctioned 2968 first floor and 2968 Sqft 2nd floor during visit of Building Officer and Surveyor on dated 5-2-2020 but didn’t mention in their report that porch was not constructed and as a result of which the owner covered porch area also in violative construction as per approved site plan vide No. 449/BS/2017 dated 10-1-2018 . However according to notice ,the owner properly maintained setbacks. But locals claimed that the violations have crossed more than 2000 Sqft as claimed by JMC that the violations is 1344 Sqft which in no case is compoundable and deserves to be demolished. However owner against demolition notice 7(3) notice approached JMC rather than J&K Special Tribunal and thereafter JMC enforcement team visited site and re-measurement was done. Furthermore, the counsel of owner claimed that the owner was surprised to see that the measurement earlier done by senior official of JMC and the measurement done in the presence of owner and hence demanded re-measurement in his presence. The violations shown in the earlier measurement is reduced to the minor violation and the re-measurement of the site premises is accepted by both the parties when the same should have been done by some expert committee which was not done in present case by sending JMC technical officer for re-measurement to save owner’s violated construction.. JMC however kept implementation intact the notice under section 7(3) vides No. MJ/CEO/182/3/2019 dated 23-1-2020 but the construction meantime continued when plaster work was going on.
JMC as usual kept habit of reacting late and after time period of two years served owner sealing BOCA notice under section 8(1) vide No. JMC/Estt/749-54 dated 28-4-2022 claiming in the notice that the owner has raised the construction at ground,first and 2nd floor against the approved building plan at 67 A/D Gandhi Nagar Jammu and that this violated construction seriously affects the planned development of Jammu city and contravenes the zoning regulation Accordingly the premises was sealed. This notice surprising claimed that action under 7(3) could not be initiated against owner as the executive Engineer Division-III, JMC has given the opinion that in case of demolition of cantilever part of the building may cause collateral damage to rest of structure on which cantilever rests.
The owner however didn’t approach any competitive Court against BOCA notices neither against 7(3) nor 8 (1) knowing very well that the violations done at the site will never ever be entertained by Competitive Courts and hence he yet again moved to JMC and accordingly the owner approached then Mayor, JMC dated 6-5-2022 with presentation of de-sealing his premises and Mayor in turn forwarded the same to Commissioner JMC for favourable action on priority basis. But the then Commissioner JMC didn’t entertain the representation of owner for de-sealing of his premises due to serious violations. The owner this time approached Commissioner JMC dated 29-11-2022 with the same contents of representation as was submitted to Mayor earlier and committed before Commissioner that he is ready to deposit the compounding fee of minor violation if any done by him and on the basis of which his premises was sealed. However when an RTI application was filed in this regard as to why despite serving several BOCA notices, how violated structure of three floors all in equal size is still intact, Deputy Commissioner ( N) JMC vide No. JMC/RB/RTI/71024-25 dated 27-3-2023 surprisingly produced a new violation chart wrongly claiming that the owner was allowed ground plus two floors all 3600 Sqft according to JMP-2032 whereas as per approved site plan, the owner was allowed ground floor as 2968 Sqft with 180 Sqft porch as per 40% permitted area for 9000 Sqft plot when as per approved site plan the owner was allowed only 32.98 % permitted area for construction out of total plot area 9000 sqft as per JMP-2032. JMC Commissioner must intervene in this regard and should ensure fresh measurement of violations and also should book those who produced fake chart of violations as mentioned above being a very serious nature development as the violated construction which is still intact will definitely encourage others also to undertake such type of violated constructions which will in turn continue to cause serious loss to Govt exchequer and the same deserves to be addressed on priority basis by JMC competitive authorities.