Delhi: Unauthorised buildings before Dec 2016 to be made legal, says North body

North Corporation’s standing committee chairperson Tilak Raj Kataria said, “More than 90% of residential areas under the North civic body have some portion which is illegally constructed. It is not possible for any government to raze all of these unauthorised constructions. Therefore, it is practical that we bring these under the ambit of law.”
“Besides, a legal status will also earn additional revenue to the civic body in the process,” Kataria said. Rough estimates suggest that the scheme is likely to earn the civic body revenue over Rs 5,000 crore per year. “This will also solve several problems of the corporation, which is reeling under financial crisis. The money can be diverted to people’s welfare,” Kataria said.

According to the proposed plan, owners of buildings constructed till December 2016 can get their houses approved by getting a safety certificate from an authorised architect and an affidavit stating that no portion of the construction is encroaching on government land. The owner will then have to pay a penalty along with the circle rate of the property. “This will stop corruption rampant in the name of construction in Delhi,” he said. However, to prevent people from using it as an opportunity to carry out further unauthorised constructions, the committee has ordered that all structures after the stipulated date be demolished. “This gives the civic body an opportunity to stop mushrooming of unauthorised construction. We will have a clean slate now,” Kataria said.

A formal appeal for approval will now be sent to the Ministry of Urban Development. The Congress, however, opposed the move, saying it will benefit the builder mafia and will not trickle down to the common people. “The corporation has tried to bring about this amnesty scheme twice in the past and has reaped no benefit from it… The provisions do not make sense,” said Congress leader Mukesh Goel.