Haryana House passes Bill to prevent haphazard development along roads

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9: Haryana Vidhan Sabha today passed, by voice vote, the Punjab Schedule Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregu...

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9: Haryana Vidhan Sabha today passed, by voice vote, the Punjab Schedule Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Haryana amendment Bill to prevent haphazard and sub-standard development along roads. The Bill was passed in the absence of the opposition MLAs, who are boycotting the session to protest against the suspension of nine members for quot;disorderlyquot; behaviour.

The Bill provides for the constitution of a Tribunal consisting of a chairman in the rank of not less than a Financial Commissioner serving or retired and a member of the rank chief engineer having special knowledge about roads and highways. Last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Haryana Government to amend the Act to provide for the constitution of a Tribunal consisting of a retired Judge of the High Court and include among other officers, an officer of the rank of Chief Engineer serving or retired, having special knowledge of roads and highways to deal with and examine the cases involving construction made upto April 28, 1995.

The fine imposed on the violators has also been raised to a maximum of Rs 50,000 and minimum of Rs 10,000 to prevent illegal construction. In case of continued contravention, the fine has been raised from Rs 500 per day to Rs 1,000 a day. The Bill provides for a single notice of seven days before taking action against the offenders/violators of the law as against a showcause notice of 15 days.

It was felt that the time period of 15 days in the notices under Section 122 was on the higher side. In addition, the Bill provides for a direction by the competent authority to the offender for removal the unauthorised structure within seven days and for its demolition if the offender continues with the construction.

Earlier, the House voted budgetary demands for the new fiscal 1999-2000 pertaining to various departments, totalling over Rs 6,264.90 crore, without any discussion. It also voted supplementary demands totalling Rs 540.65 crore for the current financial year. The proceedings of the penultimate day of the current Budget session were completed within about 80 minutes in the absence of Indian National Lok Dal and Congress 8211; the two main opposition parties. The House is scheduled to adjourn sine die tomorrow after adopting the Haryana Bill in respect of Budget estimates for 1999-2000.