Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 8: The J&K Special Tribunal has observed that due to failure of adopting Online Building Permission Services (OBPS) by the Lakes Conservation Management Authority (LCMA) has resulted into public outcry at the inordinate delay and directed to reconsider the building permission submitted a year ago taking into account the Master Plan within the time frame.
The presiding member of Tribunal Asif Hamid Khan passed these observations and directions in an appeal filed against rejection of application in the year 2021 submitted before the Vice Chairman, Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, now (Lake Conservation & Management Authority (LCMA), for permission to construct two double storeyed residential houses on a plot situated in Habak Khushki, Srinagar.
He directed the LCMA to reconsider the application for building permission submitted almost a year ago, after taking into account the provisions of J&K Development Act, 1970, Master Plan, 2021 and dispose of the application in accordance with law within the time frame prescribed by law
The Tribunal recorded that had the LCMA adopted the Unified Building Bye-Laws of 2021 in time with other Building Permission Authorities, the deficiencies in applications for building permissions, if any, would be conveyed to the concerned applicants at the initial stage, within 5 days of submission of application, besides ensured adherence to other timelines.
“This is obviously not happening, resulting in a public outcry at the inordinate delay. In a related case, the Division Bench of the High Court was recently pleased to direct the Vice Chairman, J&K Lake Conservation & Management Authority, Srinagar, to file the responses to the applications/writ petitions seeking direction for grant of permission for construction in accordance with the Master Plan and the applicable law”, Tribunal recorded in the judgment.
The Unified (Building) Bye-Laws, 2021 have been adopted almost by all the Development Authorities including the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation. In case of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, the online building portal is still in its infancy, perhaps due to shortage or non-availability of IT enabled team to run such portals in terms of the enabling provisions of the said Bye-Laws.
“Insofar as the LCMA is concerned, it is given to understand that the matter regarding switching over to the Online Building Permission System (OBPS) was discussed by LCMA in the 116th meeting of the Building Permission Authority held on 06.09.2021. As per decision taken in the said meeting, all the members were asked to provide email IDs of their respective offices along with the cell numbers “for the test running of the Test (MC)”, Tribunal said.
It is worth to mention here that the LCMA in its 117th meeting of Building Permission held on 21.12.2021, the BPA approved switching over to OBPS in the LCMA and it was decided that all the NOC issuing officers shall ensure response within the limited time line keeping in view the PSG Act.
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