JCP to file Rs 5 cr defamation case against Mattoo
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 27: Srinagar Mayor along with two dozen Corporators today locked the gates of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in protest against SMC Commissioner and Joint Commissioner and didn’t allow these two officers to enter the premises.
Raising slogans like ‘down with bureaucracy’ and against Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta; SMC Commissioner, Athar Amin Khan and Joint Commissioner (Planning), Ghulam Hassan Mir; the Corporators led by Mayor of Srinagar Juniad Azim Mattoo locked the main gate of the SMC and held sit in protest at the entrance.
They were raising slogans like “Dheeraj Gupta is a thief”, “Commissioner is a thief” who they alleged are murdering the democracy in SMC.
The Corporates said that they are answerable to the people of the city and bureaucrats are creating hurdles in their work. The sit in continued through out the day with Corporators demanding removal of JCP besides SMC Commissioner causing impediments in their work.
While speaking to Excelsior, the Mayor accused JCP of adding to the miseries of people of Srinagar who come here for want of building permissions.
“62 elected Corporators have submitted a resolution to the Government stating that the Joint Commissioner, Planning Ghulam Hassan Mir has been relieved from his duties at SMC”, he said.
“In Srinagar city, the illegal constructions are resulting due to his incompetence because he does not understand that if he does not permit genuine constructions, the illegal ones will come to the fore”, he said.
“We are here for the betterment of the people of Srinagar. He has been issuing permits to the blue-eyed people”, he accused.
Tension prevailed in the SMC after Commissioner Khan, last week formed a Task Force of seven officials of the SMC headed by the JCP Mir to look into illegal constructions, deviations and conversion of residential buildings into commercial in Srinagar city. He has also ordered their demolition and recovery of the money lost by such constructions from delinquent SMC officials.
The Task Force during last few days demolished several illegal structures that were coming up during lockdown allegedly with the active connivance of some Municipal officials and Corporators. The drive that was started on May 21 will continue till June 6 and it has irked the Mayor and Corporators.
Mir also cancelled several building permissions which were illegally issued during 2018 and 2019 including that of an influential person who had deposited Rs 1.33 Crore as building permission fee and was carrying out construction in a wetland.
The Mayor had earlier last week written a letter to Commissioner SMC seeking removal of JCP Mir.
An official of the SMC said that issuing building permissions and death and birth certificates is purely an administrative matter and there is no scope political intervention. “There is a set procedure and it has to be followed”, he said.
He said that former JCP had issued several permissions under political pressure without following the due process. “Some SMC officials have been booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on issuing such building permissions”, he said.
JCP Mir told Excelsior that he is going to file a defamation lawsuit worth Rs 5 crore against the Mayor.
Mayor levelled accusations of corruption and harassment of the women against Mir. The JCP said that the Mayor has done his character assassination by his statement against him.
“All that he said today (during the protest) was my character assassination, which he is used to doing against his Corporators but he cannot do that to a Government officer. Against all that he said; I’m going to file a complaint for defamation against him, which will be worth Rs 5 crore,” he said.
He further said that it a usual thing for Mayor of City Junaid Mattu to indulge in character assassination, which is not at all acceptable. “He does not know what and who he is talking about. He is mentally sick”, Mir said.
“It is not like he can go on speaking things just because he is a Mayor and opt for character assassination of a person unnecessarily just to meet his selfish and vested interests,” the JCP said, adding that politics is acceptable, approaching media is fine but not to the extent where it becomes absolutely unacceptable.
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