Penalties fixed, no basic facilities in case of non-compliance
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 30: Finally, the Government has notified the much-needed policy to deal with the menace of unauthorized constructions in twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar and holy town of Katra. Under the policy, no violation of any sort that has come up after December 31, 2016 will be considered and all the basic facilities like drinking water and electricity will be denied to those violators, who are eligible for regularization but will fail to avail the one-time settlement within the stipulated time-frame.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civic Laws (Special Provisions) Act, the Housing and Urban Development Department has notified the policy vide SRO-391 dated September 20, 2017 to deal with the menace of unauthorized constructions in Jammu, Srinagar and Katra.
This policy was approved by the State Cabinet vide its Decision No.53/4/2017 dated April 28, 2017 but the issuance of notification got delayed due to lack of coordination between Housing and Urban Development Department and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Department, which was exclusively highlighted by EXCELSIOR.
The policy will be applicable for a period of one year for the local areas of Srinagar, Jammu and Katra excluding the area coming under Jammu and Kashmir Lakes and Waterways Development Authority and the objectives of the police are to bring the illegal and unauthorized buildings/constructions and land use or building use conversion into planning framework to the extent possible and to facilitate strict implementation of new Master Plans.
“Only those illegal, unauthorized and unapproved buildings which have been constructed and completed before December 31, 2016 will be considered under the policy”, read the notification, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
The Expert Committees constituted by the Housing and Urban Development Depart-ment have categorized the violations into different types—built up area violation, set back/building line violations, ground coverage violations, land use violations, parking norms violations and constructions within the norms of the building byelaws/ Master Plan but for which no permission has been obtained.
In the policy, it has explicitly been mentioned that buildings coming in the proposals of widening of roads in the Master Plan or in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan; over flood absorption basins/vulnerable slopes—slopes with more than 30% grade to be demarcated by the local authorities; over lands belonging to State or Central Government, Public Under-takings, Panchayat, Wakaf Board and local commons etc; the precincts/sites coming under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 or any other act prohibiting the development in a particular area; areas/sites falling within the ambit of Jammu and Kashmir Water Resources (Regularization and Management) Act, 2010; Group Housing Projects and in restricted development zones as specified in the Master Plans like green areas, open spaces etc will not be regularized.
As far as land use violations/bulk violations are concerned, the policy states that in the case of conversions from actual use to some other use, no approved, illegal and unauthorized building shall be regularized under use of heavy, large, extensive industries, obnoxious and hazardous industries, warehousing, storage go-downs of perishables/inflammable goods, workshop of buses, slaughter houses, wholesale mandis, sewerage treatment plant, water treatment plant, shooting ranges, bird sanctuary and storage for LPG gas cylinders etc.
Similarly, regularization will not be considered if the conversion is from residential to hospital excluding primary health centres and from residential to educational institutions beyond Senior Secondary Schools (10th standard); if bulk violation exceeds 50% of the Floor Area Ratio for any use and if the offender doesn’t agree to pay or provide the required parking facility.
“It shall be compulsory for all developers of buildings in such areas to file an application in the prescribed format for compounding/regularization of layout, plots and buildings before the Empowered Committee within 60 days from the date of notification of invitation of applications for regularization by the concerned Municipal bodies and development authorities”, read the policy.
The policy shall not constitute a part of any Master Plan but is onetime exemption and the regularization charges will be used only for the development of local areas by way of improved water supply, sewerage, drainage, widening of roads, development of public amenities and other facilities. “In case of public buildings, public safety, security and conveniences and parking shall not be compromised for regularizing such buildings”, the policy further states.
“In case an application is not submitted by the concerned promoter, developer, plot holder or building owner within the stipulated time for regularization of un-authorized construction, such construction shall remain as unauthorized and offense will be treated as continuing and appropriate action under the law will be initiated”, the policy said, adding “no connection for water supply and allied services like sewerage, drainage and electricity will be provided or existing connection will be snapped”.
Moreover, such unauthorized building will be reported to the concerned Registration Authority of the Revenue Department and no sale transaction or transfer or disposal of any kind will be allowed in such unauthorized buildings. Even other enforcement action including demolition of the unapproved building will be initiated.
As far as violations in terms of the building having adhered to the use of the Master Plan and building byelaws but built without building permit, the regularization fee will be charged at the rate of Rs 20 per sft of floor area as far as residential use is concerned. However, regularization fee for other uses will be at the rate of Rs 100 per sft of floor area.
About the building built at permissible sites as per land use defined in the Master Plan with permissions but having violated the permission but without changing the land use, penalty of Rs 50 per sft in case of violation up to 25% above maximum permissible FAR/FSI will be charged in case of residential use while as penalty of Rs 100 per sft in case of above 25% up to 50% violation on maximum permissible FAR/FSI will be imposed.
As far as commercial buildings are concerned, penalty of 25% of the commercial circle rate of land in that area per sft will be charged for violation up to 25% above maximum permissible FAR/FSI. Similarly, penalty of 50% of the commercial circle rate of land in that area per sft will be charged in case of violation above 25% up to 50% on maximum permissible FAR/FSI.
About building having been built violating the building use as per approved Master Plan, the policy states that 100% of commercial circle rate of land in that area per sft will be charged up to 25% of change in land use. All the commercial establishments will be charged parking ECS deficiency fee at the rate of Rs 2 lakh per ECS.
It is pertinent to mention here that the survey teams constituted for identifying, locating and categorizing the land use/building bye-laws violations have reported 4131 violations in Jammu, 5500 violations in Srinagar and 58 violations of various types in Katra.
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