Illegal construction on rise, must be sternly dealt with:Court

Unauthorisedconstruction is rapidly rising in Delhi and NCR which needs to be dealt with a stern hand, a court here said while sending a man behind bars for a month for building structures on his property without necessary approvals.
Additional Sessions Judge Lokesh Kumar Sharma sent south Delhi resident Dulal Biswas to jail while dismissing his appeal against a magisterial court order.
"Keepinginviewthefactthatunauthorisedconstructions areon the rise in the National Capital Region of Delhi and the people indulginginsuchillegalconstruction activitiesand the society needstobegivenastrict message, noleniencycanbeshowntowardstheappellantespecially when the magistrate hadalreadyawardedhima notionalsentence whichismuchlessertomaximum punishmentprovidedforit.
"Accordingly,theappealasfiledisdismissed,being devoid ofany merits,andtheappellantistakenintocustody toservethesentenceasawardedtohim..." the judge said.
According to prosecution, Biswas carried out illegal construction in the form of sun shades on all three floors of his property in Lajpat Nagar here without requisite permission from South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

An FIR was lodged against the accused and he was arrested and chargesheeted for offences under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.
On September 22 this year, charges were framed against him to which he pleaded guilty and consequently was sentenced to one month jail and a fine of Rs 1,000 was imposed on him.
Challenging the magisterial court order, Biswas had contended that thesentencewasagainsttheprinciplesof law andthepunishmentawardedtohimwasvery harshasthetrial courthadfailedtoappreciatethefactthathe wasnota previous offender.