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Illegal construction at Constitution Club unchecked

NEW DELHI: The Constitution Club on Rafi Marg has got embroiled in a controversy over illegal construction at its premises that has long gone unchecked.

All this despite the Central Public Works Department issuing four letters between February and August this year to the Club management and thereafter to its own officials to demolish the unauthorised construction and pave the way for the New Delhi Municipal Council to issue a completion certificate for 22 VIP suites constructed for Members of Parliament at V.P. House this year.

The NDMC has refused to approve the completion plan till the illegal construction is demolished or regularised. The unauthorised construction entails illegal addition of three extra rooms to the Club manager’s residence at V.P. House that adjoins the Constitution Club.

An employee who works in the Club said: “This construction dates back to about 45 years when the present manager’s father was the manager. All these years the construction was allowed to continue as no one objected. The present manager is exploiting his connections to avoid the demolition despite the CPWD order to do so.”

Admitting the problem, a CPWD official said: “There is a lot of internal politics within the Club management in the matter. We are under a lot of pressure against demolishing the construction. We cannot undertake any demolition till we are provided with proper security back up. We have also not been given the exact specifications of the illegal construction.”

“Moreover the NDMC is raising objections to the illegal construction only now whereas it should have done it when it had approved the Club’s renovation plan earlier this year,” he added.

The civic body on the other hand claims that the Club might have been “lucky” to have evaded notice of unauthorised construction earlier, however, after being informed of the existence of illegal construction in March 2008, the Club has failed to take any action for its removal or apply for its regularisation.

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