Vigilant MCD could have prevented unauthorised construction:HC

Unauthorised construction would not have come up in the national capital had the MCD been vigilant in their work, the Delhi High Court said today.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said a lot of judicial time would also have been saved, if the civic bodies had done their job honestly.
"Today, the courts and appellate courts are flooded with petitions relating to illegal construction in Delhi. When the petition comes up before the court, then only you (MCD) take action and issue notice. When these buildings come up, you keep quite and allow it to go up," it remarked.

It also said that there was a public perception that anyone can go scot-free if they can manage the MCD.
"You get salaries, but you don't do your job," an irked bench said and asked the MCD official present in the court "how can you look at your face in the mirror".
"Allowing unauthorised construction is endangering life of the public at large and it is also impacting the capital's infrastructure," it added.

The bench was hearing a plea by an NGO -- Paardarshita Public Welfare Foundation -- which informed the court about the illegal construction going on in 95 properties situated in the Karol Bagh area of the central Delhi.

The NGO's president, Harkrishan Das Nijhawan, claimed he had complained about it to the MCD, but they were not taking any action.
MCD counsel Ajay Arora disputed the NGO's claim and said that out of 95 properties, illegal construction was only going on in three of them.
Not convinced with the MCD claim, the court issued notice to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and other authorities concerned and sought their responses.
The NGO has also sought a direction to the CBI to register an FIR against the MCD engineers of the Karol Bagh zone as well as against the private builder.