The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD errs in its application before Supreme Court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 09, 2007
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New Delhi

MCD errs in its application before Supreme Court

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI: By linking special areas with planned areas, which cover about 30 per cent of Delhi and include such colonies as Ashok Vihar and Greater Kailash, in its application filed before the Supreme Court, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi has unnecessarily put a question mark over existing constructions in the Capital's regular colonies as well.

According to sources in the Union Ministry of Urban Development, not only did the MCD not put forth its case in the right manner, it also delayed the process of inviting applications from people for registration of their properties under the special areas leading to a situation that only 1 per cent of all properties falling in the category were registered by the May 31 deadline for regularisation of unauthorised constructions.

It had been stated in the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 that special building regulations would be framed for special areas, unauthorised regularised colonies and villages and these areas would register themselves with the local body within a period of four months indicating the existing extent of construction. While this four-month period started on February 7, 2007, when MPD-2021 was notified, the BJP that took charge of the MCD in the second week of April did not realise the importance of quickly setting up camps for registering all the existing constructions. It was only on May 24 that the process was started online. Subsequently the party demanded that the deadline for registrations be extended.

While the Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken has accepted the MCD's demand to extend the deadline in "public interest'', sources said this was easier said than done. "The matter would again come under judicial scrutiny as permission of the court would have to be sought. Also, as an amendment to the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 would be needed to extend the deadline, there is a possibility that objections may also be filed to it.''

A senior official insisted that there was no need for the MCD to club special areas with planned areas. "There was no issue of planned areas for which relief had been provided via September 22, 2006 notification that was also incorporated in MPD-2021. The courts had upheld the notification and it had been made clear that all properties stood regularised and only for new constructions on fourth floor was it essential that the Government submit how it intended to augment water, power and parking in the colonies. Also, the regularisation charges for these colonies were to go into an escrow account for creation of planned parking.''

But the MCD in its application also sought permission for more time for regularisation of these planned areas, the official said, adding that this has for no reason put them under the scanner as well.

As for the special areas, which include the Walled City and its extensions, Karol Bagh and the contiguous area in between, it had been mentioned in the Master Plan that this area could not be developed on the basis of normal regulations given in the development code.

"The redevelopment scheme for this special area should be prepared and notified by the MCD within three years. The special area building regulations would be prepared by the authority in consultation with the local body within a period of three years and notified with the approval of the Central Government,'' the Master Plan had said.

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