Jamshedpur Building Plan Violation: Jharkhand High Court scathing remark on panel’s report against JNAC, district administration

Jamshedpur, November 8: Jharkhand High Court bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Anand Sen has made scathing remarks against Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) and East Singhbhum district administration after going through the interim report of the three-member committee constituted by the bench.

The remarks were made while hearing the petition filed by Rakesh Jha against JNAC, East Singhbhum deputy commissioner and Tata Steel on Wednesday for passing the map in violation of Building Bye Laws 2016, providing electricity and water connections without issuing completion and occupancy certificates and construction by the builders in serious violation not only of the Building Bye Laws, 2016 but also of the maps and approved plans, selling of parking space for commercial purposes.

The bench had constituted a three member advocate panel comprising senior advocate Raj Nandan Sahay, Sudarshan Srivastava and Pandey Neeraj Raj (both Advocates).

“After going through the panel’s interim report, the High Court observed that it not only reveal gross violation of the sanctioned building plans issued by JNAC and the provisions of the Municipal Act but also reveal complete non-cooperation of the local administration with the committee of Advocates for their investigation,” said petitioners advocate Akhilesh Singh.

“The High Court also felt that it was contempt of the order of the High Court for non-cooperation with the High Court appointed panel. The High Court then summoned the Chief Secretary of the State,” Akhilesh Srivastava said.

The High Court appointed panel had visited Jamshedpur city and an interim report based on its investigation was filed in the court today.

The panel had to submit a report on whether there were large scale violations of permissions, Building Bye Laws, 2016 and approved plans in the construction of buildings?

It also had to see  whether the respondent Deputy Commissioner and JNAC were taking steps to comply with the rules governing construction of residential and commercial houses and are there any violations of traffic rules and does each market have adequate space for vehicle parking.

“The Commission has clearly stated in its interim report that wherever the Commission went, it found shocking violations of the approved building plans and the provisions of the Municipal Act. The Commission has said that the planned manner in which the violations have been committed clearly shows that this is not the work of the builders alone but all this has been done with the connivance of the senior officials of JNAC and the district administration. The parking spaces of all the buildings have been converted into commercial shops and sold,” said Akhilesh Srivastava.