Property owner submits documents, ‘to be considered on merit’, say officials

After fresh complaints about the rooftop temple, BAUDA officials earlier this week visited the spot and found that Gupta had constructed an additional floor without prior permission.

He has now applied for regularisation by paying an impact fee. The BAUDA officials who had received his application told The Indian Express that the authority would decide on going through the papers, based on merit.

“I have done nothing wrong,. As earlier construction was in dire state, I rebuilt it. It was not in my knowledge that permission should be sought from BAUDA authorities for new construction. All the legal documents were done by me while purchasing the property and got it registered with the registry department of the government office. I have applied to get my property legalised from BAUDA and I have shown a willingness to pay the impact fee whatever it may be.” Gupta told The Indian Express on Friday.

In his application submitted to the BAUDA office on Thursday, Gupta mentioned that his house in a society in Gadkhol village was in a dilapidated state. He also stated that the previous house owner Jitendra Oza — from whom he had bought the property — had obtained a gram panchayat permission letter for construction in 2012. Gupta is using the house as a godown and he lives in another residential society nearby.

Bharuch Resident Additional Collector N R Dhandal said, “Our teams are going through the documents of Mohanlal Gupta. The decision will be taken later and it will be on a merit basis.”

Gupta, who hails from Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh and settled in Gadkhol village 18 years ago, had purchased a ground-floor house in a society last year from Oza, and got the documents registered in his wife’s name Kiran Gupta.

A resident in the society, Rakhasiya, complained of unauthorised construction done by Gupta to the BAUDA, Bharuch District Collector Tushar Sumera and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.