Illegal buildings data too large to compile: BMC…….Sukhada Tatke
Mumbai: On January 18,the Bombay high court flayed the BMC for the total lawlessness prevailing in Mumbai due to illegal construction and asked P-North Ward officials to carry out a survey of all such construction in the ward.However,the P-North building proposal department recently replied to a Right to Information query saying the data on illegal construction activity in the ward is so voluminous that officials are unable to compile it.
P-North (Malad area) officials,who were asked for details of work beyond permissible limits by Kandivli resident Mehul Kataria,said it would disproportionately divert the resources of this office to compile the list.
Kataria,who filed his RTI queries in December,received similar replies from four wards in the western suburbsincluding P-Northin January and February.
TOO MANY ILLEGALITIES TO LIST ON PAPER …….Sukhada Tatke
Thats What BMC Officials In Four Wards Of The Western Suburbs Told An RTI Applicant Who Asked For Details Of Illegal
Thats What BMC Officials In Four Wards Of The Western Suburbs Told An RTI Applicant Who Asked For Details Of Illegal
If Right to Information (RTI) replies from the BMC are anything to go by,there is so much unauthorized construction in the city that it is impossible for the civic body to give RTI applicants a list of the illegal works.
In the most recent case,Kandivli resident Mehul Kataria received RTI replies from four wards in the western suburbs saying that the data on work beyond permissible limits is so voluminous that they were unable to compile a list of erring developers.
Interestingly,one of the four wards is the P-North Ward (Malad area ) whose officials the Bombay high court ordered to do a survey of illegal constructions.The BMCs order came on January 18 while hearing a petition filed by Balaji International School,Malad,which wanted to rebuild a substation the BMC had demolished.During the cases hearing,it emerged that the BMC had issued notices and filed an FIR against the school for building beyond five storeys,and later regularized the extra floors.
Kataria first asked the civic chief for details of construction sites in 10 wards of the western suburbs where work beyond permissible limits had been carried out.Former civic chief Swadheen Kshatriyas office sent the request to the concerned ward offices,while Kataria also applied to these offices for the information.I was asked to make individual applications to all these wards.I got the same reply from most of the wards building proposal departments,which deal with this matter, said Kataria.
Kataria had asked for instances where construction had exceeded the approved commencement certificate plans,the name of the developer and the description of the construction.He had also asked for details about action taken against developers and the current status of the construction.
P-North s building proposal department replied : The compilation of data would disproportionately divert the resources of this office;hence,as per clause no 7 (9) of the RTI Act 2005,this office is unable to provide the information desired by you.However,if you point out any specific case with details like city survey number,village,building proposal file number,it will be easy for this office to provide the information.You may visit this office for the inspection of the same and may seek the information in the form of copies of documents if you desire so.
Deepak Kulkarni,deputy chief engineer,building proposals (western suburbs ),told TOI that if the information is too voluminous,it can be denied under the RTI Act.We are shortstaffed and to give information of such quantity is very difficult.We will not deny any details if there is a specific case, he said.Kataria,however,said,Although the department has the information,it does not want to provide it to us.If the information is there,there is no reason why it cannot be given to us.For citizens,it is not easy to know the CTS (city survey number ) number,file number etc, Kataria said.Not only this,they did not provide me with the list of developers against whom action has been taken in the past. The Bombay high court on Monday asked the BMC to furnish a list of builders who have been prosecuted.The Bombay high court last month rapped the BMC for the total lawlessness prevailing in the city with respect to mushrooming illegal construction and the civic bodys failure to act against it.The courts observations came while hearing the Balaji school case.
CLAMPING DOWN
High court has asked BMC to submit in four weeks a list of builders who have carriied out illegal construction The civic body has also been directed to state in an affidavit the number of builders prosecuted by them The names of blacklisted builders should be published in newspapers The BMC must also give a list of architects against whom action has been taken The court also directed the Delhi-based Council of Architecture to instruct its members through newspapers within four weeks that they would lose their licences if involved in unauthorized construction