In this article, Vedant Shadangi of KIIT school of law discusses how to report instances of illegal construction.

Introduction

The growth of population day by day has led to an increasing number of constructions, among them few are legal and a large number can be found to be illegal. These illegal constructions are made without any proper authority, nor they have any legal documents of the area to construct. To save their pockets they do not realize to go through all the necessary registration and hence go on making an illegal construction. Other main causes of illegal construction are poverty, urbanization and excess need of housing demands.

Why such construction takes place?

People living in big cities often found housing very costly that why they shift from one area of a city to a different area where they can find cheap housing facilities and in process of finding cheap housing they end themselves settling in an illegal buildings and by doing his not only they put their life in stake rather they put their families live also on stake.

Reporting an illegal construction

1. If there is an illegal construction then, one can go to the municipal corporation of the city and can lodge a complaint with the proper procedure.
2. The municipal corporation will send a notice to the residents/owner of the property.

Process of notice

1. A notice is sent to the person residing in the illegal construction and is given a time period for reply.
2. The person is also provided sufficient time period by the municipal corporation for obtaining a stay order from the court.
3. If no action has been done by the owner then the construction is liable for demolition.
4. The government has also launched an online portal, through which one can file a complaint against illegal construction.
5. A person can also file a complaint with police and can take help for prevention of illegal construction.

Another proper authority

Municipal corporation tribunal has also been set up for resolving the disputes of illegal construction in the city. Its process is faster than courts and one can appeal to the tribunal in the format as prescribed by tribunal rules. For eg. Municipal corporation of Delhi tribunal will look on the matters of demolition/ceiling order which comes under the purview of Section 344, 347 and 349 of the MCD Act.

The authority clause ‘Section 336’

The most important section which needs to be understood is section 336, under which the Commissioner has the power to give sanction or permission to the construction under Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, unless such construction contravenes any of provisions of sub-section 2 of section 336 or the provision of section 340 and if any person fails to follow the orders will result into severe consequences [1]

Sub-section 2 states that the grounds on which the sanction of a building or work may be refused shall be the following, namely:

• If the building or work or the use of the site for the building or work or any of the particulars comprised in the site plan, ground plan, elevation, section or specification if fails to abide by the provisions of any bye-law made in this behalf or of any other law or rule, bye-law or order made under such other law.

• That the notice of sanction does not contain the particulars or is not prepared in accordance with the laws made in this behalf.

• That any information or documents required by the Commissioner under this Act or any bye-laws made thereunder have or have not been duly furnished.

• That in cases falling under section 312, layout plans have not been sanctioned in accordance with section 313.

• that the building or work should have an encroachment on Government land or land vested in the Corporation.

• that the site of the building or work does not about on a street or projected street and that there is no access to such building or work from any such street by a passage or path-way appertaining to such site.

The Commissioner will then communicate the sanction to the person who has given the notice, and where he refuses sanction on any of the grounds specified in sub-section (2) or under section 340 then he will record a brief statement of his reasons for such refusal and communicate the refusal along with the reasons therefor to the person who has given the notice.

The sanction or refusal as aforesaid should be communicated in the manner as stated by the bye-laws made in this behalf.

Evidence required for a valid complaint

Mere complaining of an illegal construction will lead you nowhere unless it is backed by some proof, there are certain requirements for reporting a complaint.

1. One has to provide name, house, aadhar number and photo-id.
2. Documents need to be given to the municipal corporation as an evidence and validating the authenticity of complaint.
3. Necessary other information to be given to municipal corporation relating to the illegal construction.

These requirements are necessary and are taken as a measurement for prevention of false or bogus complaint, and filing only those complains who has a proper reason to report and has necessary evidence, the municipal corporation verifies the documents and then enters the complaint into the file.

Format of a complaint letter

To, Municipal Corporation of (eg.Delhi) (Address where unauthorized construction is going on), (eg.Delhi) – (pin code) Sub:- Complaint Regarding Unauthorized Construction. Respected Sir, I need to bring this information to your notice that unauthorised construction at ________near_________ New Delhi (pin code) is being carried out without any MCD permission because of construction we are not able to sleep at night because the work is being carried out at night also sir, please check out the solution of this problem as construction is being carried in an unauthorised way. Yours Faithfully [name of the complainer]

Checking legality of the property

Before proceeding towards any property one must ensure himself that the property he is checking is legal or not, and in order to know there are certain ways by which one can ascertain that.

1. The first and foremost point is checking the title papers of the property the title will show the legal owner of the property.
2. The second big thing to be noted is a bank approval. There is always a bank approval for legal clearance of the property documents.
3. Mortgage if any, against the property, must be checked with all legal documents.
4. Before proceeding towards any property one must always ask for the sanctioned plan from the builder and should compare it with the actual plan this is done to check if any construction has been made not in accordance with the actual plan.
5. Encumbrance certificate can be issued by sub-registrar office because it is a proof of free ownership and also certifies that the property is free from any legal dues or mortgage.

Result

Illegal construction not only blocks the land  in an illegal manner but also becomes a threat of life for the people living out there, like if an area is declared as a green zone and is not fit for any construction and if any construction is been made there then there can be collapsing of building and loosing of lives. These generally happen because the soil is not appropriate for construction and just in order to build apartments and house people anyhow starts their constructions.

India is currently facing a huge traffic problem, and among various different causes, the main cause which arises here is illegal construction, by having houses beside the road and construction of houses beyond the permissible area not only makes the roads smaller but also results in blocking roads for vehicles thus resulting in traffic.

The municipal authority although has a mechanism for preventing illegal construction, but should come up with such counter-attack plans for this people, that they find it hard to create an escape plan and neither can mislead any law by any unfair means and hence do their construction only by legal means.

In order to register a complaint of illegal construction, one can reach out to these delegated persons

In order to register a complaint one can reach out to these delegated persons.

Hyderabad

Delhi

Bengaluru

Mumbai

Kolkata

Chennai

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References

[1]http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/P-ACT/1957/A1957-66.pdf

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Want-to-complain-about-illegal-buildings-BMC-wants-evidence/articleshow/26488022.cms

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-report-illegal-construction-work

http://www.livemint.com/Money/vGwO6ejDP4PKIPTAEP9CLP/Four-ways-to-check-whether-property-is-legal.html