Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Thursday directed the J&K Chief Secretary to constitute a Committee to fix responsibility on officials of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for illegal constructions and land use violations in the Bal Garden area of the city.
Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal while hearing a 19-year-old petition regarding conversion of residential houses into commercial establishments, illegal constructions and its impact on the residents, directed the Chief Secretary “to constitute a committee headed by Commissioner SMC and including other senior officers to fix responsibility upon all officials of Corporation who were at the helm of affairs at the time when such constructions and violations took place.”
The committee shall “identify the officials responsible, so that accountability is duly fastened upon any such erring officer under whose domain such violations have taken place.”
The bench directed the respondent authorities to submit a detailed action-plan in the form of supplementary affidavit within two weeks.
The affidavit has to be “strictly in terms of the findings and conclusions contained in the report of a committee constituted by the Corporation in 2024 to conduct a comprehensive survey of the Bal-Garden area.”
The committee was to conduct a survey regarding residential houses converted into commercial establishments, and how it has affected and impacted the area.
The court today directed that a detailed supplementary affidavit be filed within two weeks in the form of an action-plan. The affidavit shall demonstrate the steps proposed to implement the committee’s recommendations so as to curb unauthorized conversions, violations and illegal parking in the area.
The 2024 constituted committee had concluded “the unchecked and unauthorised commercialization of Balgarden area of Karan Nagar reflects broader enforcement challenges in Srinagar.”
Its report revealed “several instances of non-compliance and violations of building permissions, highlighting the need for stricter enforcement, accountability, internal coordination between enforcement and planning wings of SMC and community engagement.”
It said that the parking crisis in Balgarden demanded urgent intervention to restore residents’ peace and safety.
It recommended a combination of strategic planning, enforcement, community engagement and legal action as potential tools to address the issue while allowing local businesses along main roads envisaged as mixed use corridors in the Master Plan Srinagar-2035.
It had said that immediate action in terms of robust and watchful enforcement was needed to prevent the violations and unauthorised conversions in the area.
The court while perusing the report observed “strict enforcement directions were required to be issued to ensure implementation vis-à-vis violations of building permissions, land use zoning, and further unauthorized conversions in the area.”
It is further obligatory on part of the Municipal Corporation to review each structure listed by the committee on a case-to-case basis strictly in accordance with the land use policy, Master Plan Srinagar-2035 and JKUBBL-2021, the court said.
It said the Corporation was obligated to take action against the structures which were found non-compliant under the provisions of the J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, Master Plan Srinagar-2035 and JKUBBL-2021. 17.
“The Municipal Corporation and Enforcement Agencies were also duty-bound to adopt reformatory measures ensuring adequate provisioning of infrastructure to mitigate the impact of unauthorized conversions on local streets, utilities and services”, observed the court.
