There may not be any respite soon to those who made illegal constructions and breached civic norms while constructing buildings.
There may not be any respite soon to those who made illegal constructions and breached civic norms while constructing buildings, as the newly enacted law to regularise illegal structures has been challenged before Gujarat high court.
After preliminary hearing of the petition, a bench of acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala issued notices to the state government and kept the matter after three weeks for further hearing.
One Shivlal Purohit, on Friday, challenged the Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act, 2011, which has provisions to regularise illegal constructions by recovering impact fee.
Purohit’s counsel Amit Panchal submitted before the court that the rule gives unbridled power to officers in respect of regularisation of developments without parking spaces and fire safety measures. The Act and Rules compromise the structural stability of the unauthorised construction which is hazardous to the safety and life of people.
He also said the Act and Rules framed do not fasten liability and accountability on the officers sanctioning and regularising the unauthorised development, which would lead to rampant corruption and to actions which are alien to law.
Panchal further said the Act has been introduced to achieve political mileage and gains at the cost of law-abiding citizens by protecting, supporting and aiding the illegal acts of selected few individuals.
Purohit had filed his first plea in 2000 and the court directed the state government to take action against civic problems like illegal construction, encroachment, lack of parking and fire safety arrangements in high-rise buildings. At that time, the government brought Impact Fee Bill to regularise illegal construction.
However, he again filed a petition as such activities continued and
the government did not follow the high court directive. Then the government again enacted a new law to regularise illegal constructions.
Panchal further submitted that in 2001, the government filed an affidavit before the high court and assured it that the impact fee would be only one-time measure. However, the government again brought in such a bill to regularise illegal constructions.
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