Hyderabad: Legal experts have said that introduction of building regularisation/penalisation schemes will dilute the provisions available in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act to prevent and demolish illegal constructions.
They pointed out that frequent introduction of schemes relaxing the rules for the purpose of generating revenue or to achieve political goals, contrary to the Municipal Corporation Act, would encourage unplanned development of cities and towns in the state.
Mr C. Damodar Reddy, former standing counsel for the GHMC in the Hyderabad High Court said that the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, which was the parent Act for all the laws which are in force in both AP and Telangana, had stringent provisions to deal with illegal and unauthorised constructions.
He said as per the provisions of the Act, the Corporation had the power to demolish an illegal construction after following the due process prescribed in the Act. As per the Act, a deputy commissioner rank officer of a GHMC Circle is empowered to take action against constructions with Ground +2 floors, and the chief city planner had the power to take action on buildings with more than three floors, he added.
Mr Reddy recalled that in 1998, when the TD government had introduced the Building Regularisation Scheme, a division Bench of the erstwhile AP High Court had struck down the GO holding that GO Ms. No. 419, dated July 30, 1998 was ultra vires to the provisions of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act and rules made there under.
He said in view of the High Court order, the Congress government in 2007 had brought out the AP Regulation and Penalisation of Unauthorisedly Constructed Buildings and Buildings Constructed in Deviation of the Sanctioned Plan Rules, 2007, to introduce the Building and Layouts Penalisation Scheme.
A division Bench of the High Court in 2009 had passed an order upholding the Rules except to extent of height of certain buildings which had been constructed illegally, he reminded.
Mr Sivaraju Srinivas, a High Court advocate said that the regularisation of illegal constructions that do not have the required set-backs to lay water and sewerage pipelines will become a great hurdle to the development of the city. He said that Madhapur and Kondapur areas were the best examples for unplanned development which had been causing severe hardships to the people residing there. He said, “In a developing metropolitan city like Hyderabad, we cannot even have a 20 feet road if the governments keep on encouraging illegal constructions.”
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