NEW DELHI: The Vigilance Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Tuesday recommended the names of 94 engineers for penal action after they were prime facie found responsible for allowing unauthorised constructions in their zones even as the civic body's ongoing demolition drive targeted 23 unauthorised structures across the city and re-sealed 36 properties in Rohini Zone.

After orders from the Delhi High Court, the Vigilance Department has undertaken the exercise of fixing responsibility on the civic body engineers under whose regime more than 18,000 unauthorised structures came up between 2001 and 2005, action against which is currently under way.

Subsequently, the Vigilance Department began year-wise scrutiny of data, and in its report for 2001 covering six zones -- South, Central, City, Sadar Paharganj, Shahdara (South) and West -- and records of 1,500 properties, it found 58 junior engineers and 36 assistant engineers guilty of allowing unauthorised constructions in their area.

It has recommended initiation of major penalty proceedings against these guilty officials to competent authorities in the civic body. The action against these officials could range from reduction in rank to suspension.

Earlier, the MCD had initiated 300 cases involving 931 officials for unauthorised construction. Proceedings against those officials are under way.

Meanwhile, the demolition drive was carried out in all 12 civic zones across the city on Tuesday. In Rohini Zone, the MCD officials re-sealed 36 unauthorised properties whose seal had been broken. While three properties each were targeted in the Shahdara (South), Civil Lines, Najafgarh and West zone, two each were demolished in Central, Cit, South and Shahdara (North) zones, while one property each was demolished in the Narela, Karol Bagh and Sadar Paharganj zones. Of the demolished structures, nine were residential properties while 14 were commercial constructions.

The civic body officials also sealed two commercial properties -- one each in the Karol Bagh and South zones.

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