Ward officers to scrutinize new constructions
A division bench expressed satisfaction over the government’s new model of raising an army of “ward officers” to keep a tab on the constructions of their respective wards within the limits; almost a year after the PIL against illegal constructions in the city was filed in the Patna high court.
A bench of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Prabhat Kumar Jha was informed by Lalit Kishore, principal additional advocate general, about the amendments to the Bihar Municipal Law so that stringent action could be taken against the violators of the norms.
Kishore said that the state government decided to assign the task to ‘ward officers’ since it was difficult for the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner to keep a tab on every construction in the city. “While sanctioning constructions The PMC will inform the concerned ward officers and they will keep a vigil on the constructions,” said Kishore.
The ward officer will inform the PMC commissioner if the developer is found violating the building bylaws, which in turn will put the builder on notice. The commissioner may lodge an FIR against the builder if the construction still goes on, the court was informed.
The concept of ward officers was appreciated and observed by the court, “It is a big achievement if this PIL has resulted into amendments to the law.”
“This PIL has certainly caused a ripple. But it should not be allowed to die down this time like the ripple that was caused in 1986,” observed the bench. However, the court suggested to the state government to form a permanent committee headed by the chief secretary and comprising urban development and housing department secretary, PMC commissioner, Patna DM, Patna SP (traffic) and cooperative department registrar, to make the amendments more effective. The court suggested, “On monthly basis regular meetings should be held by such a committee to monitor constructions in the city,”.
The court asked the state to bring on record all the amended laws and rules, fixing the next date for hearing on May 15.
Source: Times of India
Bihar Municipal Law, building bylaws, FIR, government's new concept, Illegal constructions, illegal constructions in the city, Justice Prabhat Kumar Jha, Lalit Kishore, Navin Sinha, Patna DM, Patna High Court, Patna Municipal Corporation, PIL, PMC commissioner, State government, ward officers
