The district administration has iterated a set of guidelines for the city’s civic authority regarding the course of action to be taken after illegal construction is detected, officials said on Friday.
Enforcement of the process, they said, will help maintain proper documentation of any action by the authority and weed out corruption as some juniors tend to seal and de-seal properties on their own accord.
A notice by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) this week said that after illegal construction is found, authorities will have one month to decide if the offence is compoundable. If not, the structure has to be demolished within 60 days.
“As per the guidelines, if illegal construction is found, GDA issues notice to the owner that has to be responded to within 15 days. The GDA’s town planning department, after assessing the level of encroachment, also decides whether the illegal construction is compoundable or not within a months’ time,” said RK Singh, vice-chairperson, GDA.
“If there is scope of compounding, GDA regularises extra construction in lieu of a compounding fee. If it is outright illegal and has been constructed in blatant violation of building bylaws, the structure has to be demolished within 60 days,” added Singh. Though this is the norm, Singh said, in practice some junior officials would spot illegal construction and proceed to seal a property.
“There were allegations that these lower level officials did not care to inform the higher-ups on the action initiated by them. Since there was no official record, they would allegedly de-seal a building in connivance with the developer. This practice has ample scope for corruption. So the first step we took was that we stripped supervisors and junior engineers of the power to seal or de-seal any building,” the GDA vice-chairperson said.
He was referring to the order earlier this month that limited the powers of junior engineers and supervisors to seal and de-seal properties in the city. The officials now need approval from the officer on special duty (OSD) or the vice-chairperson’s office for any such action.
“Now, officials have been told to follow the guidelines issued to them, which entail informing the enforcement department of any illegal construction,” Singh said.