Srinagar, July 25:

The High Court has directed the authorities to demolish two hostels and a guest house in Srinagar for huge violations of original building permission.
The appellants along with their father, Habibullah Sheikh had obtained three separate/individual building permissions from the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) for raising construction of three separate hostels/guest houses on their proprietary land.

The building permission granted in favour of father of the appellants was in respect of a four-storey Hostel building (Commercial), whereas the building permission in respect of appellant-Bashir Ahmad Sheikh was for raising construction of four-storey guest house. The building permission in favour of appellant-Mohamad Rafiq Sheikh was for raising the commercial construction of a four-storeyed Hostel.

It was alleged by the respondents that the writ petitioners, taking advantage of the unrest in the Valley during 2016, raised illegal construction despite repeated directions by the SDA and its staff. It was alleged that for a total build up area of 9159 Sft per floor, they had raised the construction to 19900 Sft per floor thereby making the violation to the extent of more than 200% and these violations were mostly made on the setbacks.

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar while expressing its deep concern over the silence of SDA on such illegal constructions directed for demolition of the structure. “The Srinagar Development Authority is directed to carry out the demolition of the violation even if it entails demolition of the entire structure.
The court directed the SDA to submit the Action Taken Report (ATR) before the Court within a period of two months and for placing the said report before an appropriate bench for consideration and passing further orders. The court further directed the Registry to forward a copy of this judgment to the Chief Secretary of the UT of J&K.

The court has also directed for a fresh look at the Regulations to make provision for penalizing the Officers/officials responsible for allowing the development / construction raised in flagrant violation of building permission, would be worthwhile.
The court said that a person guilty of flagrant violation of rule of law cannot approach the Court of law and complain that he is not being fairly treated by the State responsible for ensuring the implementation of rule of law.

The court has recorded that it is aware that there are several such buildings raised in the City under the nose of the authorities responsible for planned development of the City and as a result whereof the Srinagar City has lost its charm and beauty.
“Every day we witness traffic jams, encroachments on public roads, lanes and by-lanes as also on the banks of river Jhelum. It is said that the encroachments and mushroom constructions unauthorizedly raised on both sides of River Jhelum were some of the factors which led to the devastating floods of 2014”, the bench said.
The court said that the Control of Building Operations Authorities (COBA) woke up from their slumber and took up their responsibility seriously, lest the City of Srinagar and many others would be lost in the chaos. It needs no emphasis that lacs of tourists and pilgrims throng the Valley of Kashmir every year and the first stop is in the City of Srinagar.
“If this is how they are presenting Srinagar City to the outside tourists and pilgrims, we would be doing great disservice to the Tourism and Hospitality Sector besides making the life of its citizens miserable by chaotic traffic jams, pollution and haphazard growth of the City”, the court added.

END

By SNS KASHMIR

Shaharbeen News Service Kashmir is a news service which covers, gathers, writes, and distributes news to newspapers, periodicals, radio and television broadcasters, government agencies, and other users. We at SNS Kashmir believe in fair and independent journalism to inform our masses or subscribers and readers about the happenings around the world. The prime focus of the news gathering and reporting is focused on Jammu and Kashmir state.

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