Delhi civic officials pulled up for ignoring illegal constructions

The Delhi High Court has pulled up civic authorities for not being vigilant about illegal constructions, saying they are remiss in their duties and ordering an inquiry against such officials.

Justice Sudershan Kumar Misra wondered how illegal constructions were permitted "under the very noses" of the officials deployed in the area.

The court was hearing a contempt plea filed against the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) for letting a six-floor unauthorized building come up in the Karol Bagh area even as repeated complaints to the authorities were ignored.

The court directed the commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to look into all aspects of the construction and to initiate any action against the officials concerned for any lapses that may be found on their part, after having conducted an appropriate inquiry.

"How such an extensive construction was permitted to be commenced and thereafter carried out right upto this stage under the very noses of the officials deployed in the area. It is not as if the concerned officials are bereft of normal human faculties to have remained unconscious of such an ongoing construction," Justice Misra said in a recent order.

"Prima facie, it is evident that the concerned officers in the field, who are normally expected to be sensitive even to the collection of any building material at a site etc are either remiss in their duties, or in some way complicit," the court said.

It also said that apparently, the concerned officials of the NDMC, right from the staff in the field upwards, have not been vigilant, otherwise the offending construction would not have come up in the first place.