Govt abolishes UTEIC
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Apr 4: In a much respite to the Jammu people, the Union Territory Government has finally ordered abolition of Urban Transport Environment Improvement Committee (UTEIC), which mandated cumbersome process of procuring 16 NOCs for building permission.
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A formal order in this regard has been issued by the Commissioner Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Mandeep Kaur, according to which UTEIC constituted vide Government order number 190-HUD of 2001, dated 14-08-2001 stands abolished.
Even as Divisional Commissioner Jammu, who was in-officio Chairman of the committee, had formally recommended the abolition of UTEIC in view of the alleged harassment of building permission seekers, it took more than two years to the Housing and Urban Development Department in taking the final call.
More ironic was the fact that UTEIC was not being implemented in Srinagar and even by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) as well for areas upto 20,000 sq ft whereas Jammu Development Authority (JDA) was routing all building permission cases of commercial establishments through UTEIC.
To get the proposal through the UTEIC, the applicants had to submit nearly 16 No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from various departments. A general impediment that was faced by the applicants and proposal seekers was that it always became difficult to achieve all the NOCs before the UTEIC meet which was generally not possible.
Pertinent to mention that the Govt vide Order No. 190-HUD of 2001 dated 14-08-2001 had ordered that all the building permission cases which generate traffic like hotels, malls, shopping lines etc have to be placed before the (Urban Transport Environment Improvement Committee (UTEIC) headed by the Divisional Commissioner. The other members of the UTEIC were IGP Range, IGP Traffic, VC JDA/SDA, Administrator, Municipality Jammu/Srinagar, SE (R&B) Srinagar/ Jammu, Chief Town Planner, Jammu/Srinagar.
Even as there was no proper implementation of this order across J&K, the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) in September 2017, decided to route all building permission cases of commercial establishments through UTEIC headed by the Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
Earlier, a similar UTEIC meet was in practice at Jammu Municipal Corporation which was presided over by the JMC Commissioner, but due to its faulty and erratic conduct, the same was abolished soon to streamline the system.
As procuring 16 NOCs was a cumbersome process, fraught with impediments, it used to be a great handicap for the applicants to get all the NOCs before listing the proposal for the UTEIC meet. Also the meet could not be scheduled on time as the committee members were rarely seen present on one occasion, generally leaving the meet to be deferred and harassment to the applicants.
Taking the cognizance of the grievance of people, then Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Raghav Langer in 2021 had formally recommended the abolition of the UTEIC to the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The proposal pending for action finally got green signal of the Administrative Department paving way for a relief to many people who used to be held up for years together awaiting their proposals getting through .
As per the Government order number 92-JK (HUD) of 2024, dated 02-04-2024, the responsibility for strictly observing the provisions of the Master Plan, Zonal Plan, Uniform Building Byelaws 2021 etc regarding effective implementation of J&K Metropolitian Region Development Authorities Act 2018 as applicable to particular cases, shall henceforth stand devolved upon the respective Building Permission Issuing Authorities.
The abolition of UTEIC meet has sent a sigh of relief for small time proposals and application seekers who look forward to get their works through and in time.
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