Illegal construction thrives with official support: HC told

Illegal construction thrives in the national capital with the support of law enforcers as it is not possible without a nexus between the builders and the officials, the Delhi High Court has been told.
A three-member experts panel, set up by the high court to inspect alleged illegal constructions across the city, has said in its report that "30 per cent of the population of Delhi is living in sub-human condition and 10 per cent completely in inhuman conditions" due to such construction.
Holding that "builder, architect and the owner have a vested interest", it told a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal that the sub-human conditions in which the people lived were a result of the "greed of property owners and callousness of the MCD's law enforcers".

The committee members, former CBI director D R Karthikeyan, ex-India Habitat Centre Director R M S Liberhan and retired district judge Ravinder Kaur, also said that without enforcing any criminal liability on the builder- architect-owner-official nexus, "no lasting remedy will work".
"Illegal constructions cannot happen without connivance. Builder-official nexus ... thrives in our cities by buying protection and insurance from the law enforcers. The builder, architect and the owner have a vested interest. Often, the purchaser is the most vulnerable.
"Hence, criminal and civil liability of the builder, architect, the owner and the concerned executive engineer must survive for ten years from the date of the sanctioned plan and, in the case of non-sanctioned ones, from the date of the acquisition of the title to the illegal premises," the committee said in an over 200 page report.

The panel, which was tasked with giving recommendation to overcome any unauthorised construction existing in the city, said all layout plans approved by the MCD should be displayed in the concerned colonies and "cast in stone".

Giving a slew of suggestions, it said that a copy of the layout plan for any colony or construction should be made available in the office of the Resident Welfare Associations well as on the website of the MCD.
"These should not be photocopies of the existing plans but should be graphically digitised. It will take time, but it has to be done," the report said, adding that the city needs "micro managing" as it is necessary that every inch of public space is mapped and regulated.

"The business of free parking on municipal land in colonies must be stopped and parking space must be sold to the residents, unless a centralised mechanism is not in place," it said.
The members, who were assisted by some lawyers, recommended multi-level parking in commercial areas like Paharganj and Karol Bagh in order to address the issue of congestion created purely by private cars.
"No vehicle should be allowed on these roads except between 9 pm and 9 am, on a zero-tolerance basis. Last-mile connectivity can be arranged through a robust non-polluting public transport," the committee said.
It strongly recommended that unless an accountability matrix is circulated and enforced, the report will be one more document on the shelves of some dusty record room of the MCD.

"The one and only remedy is to install an open and transparent system of governance without which there is no survival of a decent, lawful and a civilised society. MCD can only then ensure the survival of the city and justify its own existence," they said in their report.
The court committee was appointed after it was flooded with several PILs alleging the presence of illegal construction in all corners of the national capital.