JMC unmoved towards unauthorized three floor commercial construction on residential site plan 487-A Gandhi Nagar in Ward-20after serving BOCA notice under 7(1), all set to be inaugurated any time soon- courtesy to Enforcement Officer Anil Kashyap

Approved site plan was wrongly approved and was having serious drawbacks as area chart of approved site plan shows porch area as 180 Sqft but in the drawing of approved site plan the area of porch has been mentioned as 17×18 (306 Sqft). Moreover, Porch, Verandah, drawing room as per approved drawing of site plan was shown in straight line which is rarely witnessed having verandah and porch open
Owner didn’t even construct the Porch and Verandah as was mentioned in approved site plan besides extending three ft gallery by terming it verandah on ground floor and infact constructed three big commercial halls all in equal size without maintaining setbacks from front and back side
When locals objected to commercial construction on residential plot , enforcement staff instead of taking action against owner befooled public that owner is raising residential construction and will do partition later besides they maintained that construction work has been stopped but that turned out mere eyewash as construction was never stopped and had the construction stopped owner would not have constructed three floors commercial structure
Moreover prime parameter of residential house is compound wall which is first of all constructed but the owner in the present case hasn’t constructed compound wall so far which itself is a testimony that construction is commercial which surprisingly JMC fails to see to take action against owner
GY CORRESPONDENT
jammu, jun 07
Jammu Municipal Corporation has failed to take decisive and timely action against violators both in Gandhi Nagar and Channi Himmat area as in most of the cases ,it has only helped and supported violators rather than performing their duty to implement Jammu Master Plan 2032. To put things in perspective one Ashok Kumar s/o late Omparkash r/o Gandhi Nagar Jammu purchased a old residential house measuring 2925 Sqft (45×65) a corner plot at 487-A in Ward-20 Gandhi Nagar Jammu from Pushpa Devi by paying worth crores with a aim to run business by raising commercial structure on residential plot. Accordingly the owner got approved site plan from JMC vide No. 827/JMC/BS/2021 dated 20-10-2021 with a condition that the owner will raise fresh residential construction by dismantling existing residential house. According to approved site plan, the owner was allowed ground floor including porch for parking 1901.25 Sqft first and 2nd floor 1901.25 Sqft,porch area 180 Sqft with open area 1023.75 Sqft. The owner was mandatory to observe setbacks including 10 ft from front side,sides Nil, rear 12 ft 9 inch. On the ground floor, the owner allowed Porch 17×18, verandah 13 ft 9 inchx 5 ft, Drawing room 12 ft 9 inch x10 ft, entrance lobby, living room 33.6×17.0,kichen/dining room19-0x15 and toilet 7×7 ft-6 inch, height of building fixed at 38.6 Sqft from front road level. It deserves mentioning here that this approved site plan was wrongly approved and was having serious drawbacks as area chart of approved site plan shows porch area as 180 Sqft but in the drawing of approved site plan the area of porch has been mentioned as 17×18 (306 Sqft). Moreover, Porch, Verandah, drawing room as per approved drawing of site plan was shown in straight line which is rarely witnessed having verandah and porch open.
However the owner against the approved site plan started commercial construction by covering area of verandah and covered porch area on RCC Pillars and fitted windows on front side where there was Porch without leaving any space for mandatory setbacks particularly from front side which was mandatory besides mandatory space was also not left from backside and kept entrance from backside also.Not only this owner didn’t even construct the Porch and Verandah as was mentioned in approved site plan besides extending three ft gallery by terming it verandah on ground floor and infact constructed three big commercial halls. The owner likewise constructed first and 2nd floor as big commercial halls all in equal size covering nearly 2300 Sqft. It deserves mentioning here that both J&K Housing Board and JMC have already served notice to owner for encroaching road area nearly 10 ft but the owner instead of removing encroachment merged this area under construction. However when locals objected to commercial construction on residential plot by getting residential site plan from JMC and brought the issue into kind notice of enforcement staff, they instead of taking action against owner befooled the public that the owner is raising residential construction and will do partition later besides they maintained that the construction work has been stopped but that turned out mere eyewash as the construction was never stopped as had the construction stopped the owner would not have constructed three floors commercial halls which is clearly a commercial structure. Moreover the prime parameter of residential house is compound wall which is first of all constructed but the owner in the present case hasn’t constructed compound wall which itself is a testimony that construction is commercial.
Till date no partition has been done at the site and as an eye wash endeavor, owner as per guidance of JMC has fitted an ordinary door to hoodwink general public as main entrance. However when JMC enforcement staff did not take any action against owner, a RTI application was filed to know the status of construction whether as per approved site plan or against it. Assistant Enforcement Officer, JMC Anil Kashyap in his reply said that owner has started partition work on ground floor vide No.JMC/CEO/1173-74 dated 2-3-2022 which was wrong as no such partition has been done as yet by owner besides there is no parking facility at the site ignoring porch parking. JMC further vide No.JMC/CEO/435-37 dated 25-6-2022 replied that JMC has served notice under 7(1) vide No.JMC/CEO/08/01/2022 dated 10-6-2022 which proved mere eyewash as construction continued. Now as a result of which three floor commercial halls construction is all set to be inaugurated any time soon but JMC enforcement staff particularly Enforcement Officer Anil Kashyap as how owner managed to construct three floor commercial construction on residential plot after getting residential site plan approved from JMC despite serving him BOCA notice to owner. This is matter of serious investigation to find out on whose command the owner was helped and supported by JMC enforcement staff against will of JMP-2032 and Unified Building Bye-laws 2021 and if no action is taken against owner, then locals will assume that whole of JMC is well behind owner to save his commercial construction on residential plot after approving his site plan purely as residential. It deserves mentioning here that as per Jammu Master Plan 2032 and Unified Building Byelaws 2021 porches up to an area of 17 Sqm shall be allowed in side setbacks only and no construction over such porches shall be allowed and area under porch shall be calculated @ 50% for coverage but the owner raised three floors of equal size more of a construction purely commercial in nature. This is a matter of serious investigation as how influential persons are being allowed to violative constructions and the rules and demolition drive is only meant for common man .In yet another open violation of rules and regulations, JMC even allowing construction of basements in Gandhi Nagar planned residential colony which is not at all permissible under JMP-2032.