Srinagar August 27: The High Court on Monday directed the state government to finalize Master Plan for Srinagar with utmost ‘urgency’ and place its date of notification before the bench within three weeks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Alok Aradhe directed the government to finalize the Master Plan Srinagar (2017-2035) with utmost ‘urgency’ and place the date of notification before the bench within three weeks.
The court was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mujeeb Andrabi in 2013 on the large scale encroachments and raising of commercial complexes in the city in clear violation of the civic laws.
The petition prayed decongestion of the city and formulation of a futuristic plan of action for its planned growth.
It may be mentioned that the state government had some years ago constituted empowered committees to scrutinize applications for regularization of illegal and unauthorized constructions in the cities of Srinagar, Jammu and Katra.
The terms and reference of the empowered committees were to bring the illegal and unauthorized buildings, constructions and land use or building use conversions into the planning framework to the extent possible.
The committees were required to facilitate the implementation of the master plan under revision, scrutinize all the documents as prescribed by the competent authority and submit before it for regularization of layout, plots and buildings completed before 31-12-2016.
The J&K government had enacted a law to protect, for one year, thousands of unauthorized constructions in Srinagar and Jammu cities as well as in Katra.
The provisions of the Act did not protect buildings under construction or structures whose construction had not been completed on the date that the Act came into force on March 5, 2014.
The Act also did not apply to the buildings and structures constructed on public land, road or other public utility, and also to constructions not complying with safety measures, if any, issued by the government.
The policy was approved by the state cabinet on April 28, 2017. However, the policy was notified in September 2017 by the Housing and Urban Development Department.
It was stated that policy will be applicable for a period of one year-from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 for the local areas of Srinagar, Jammu and Katra.
However, the much hyped policy has expired even before its implementation as in SRO-391 its applicability was confirmed only up to 31st of March 2018.
