Srinagar 12 January (KNB): In a major violation of rules, despite filing all necessary documents and submitting the building permission fee, there are months of delay in disposing off applications by the office of Joint Commissioner Planning of Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
As revealed through one of the documents (a copy of which lies with Kashmir News Bureau), It took 15 months for a building permission application to get disposed off by the Joint Commissioner Planning, as well as demanded No Objection Certificate from people (neighbours) residing around the construction plot, which is nowhere mentioned/required as per the Public Service Guarantee Act 2011.
The applicant had applied for building permission on 9-7-2019 and submitted all the required documents but his application wasn’t approved for months, demanding irrelevant things such as NOC from neighbors, which only added to the suffering of the applicant.
Similarly, issuance of Building Permission cases complete in all aspects fall within the purview of Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Guarantee Act 2011, and all such applications, which are complete in all aspects, is to be disposed off within a period of 30 days.
Regarding the same, one of the corporators said, “We don’t have any idea what he (JCP) is up-to? He should make efforts to make the whole building permission process easier but instead is making it complicated for the general public.”
He added, “Months of delay in building permission cases adds to the frustration of the people and who then opt for illegal constructions.”
In the past, applicants have alleged that building permission cases are being processed merely on the basis of nepotism and without following the set procedure as envisaged under rules/law.
Despite several complaints filed against the Joint Commissioner Planning, questioning his capability to perform the duty and provide service for the general public, no action has been taken against him.
JCP’s unjustified demands and professional incompetence has caused the general public to suffer and pave the way for raising of illegal/unauthorized constructions in the City.
Moreover, apart from putting the Srinagar public to suffer due to inordinate delay in issuance of building permissions cases, JCP’s gross negligence of duties and irresponsible behavior has cost the corporation the revenue (major source of income of SMC) which gets generated from the building permission cases. (KNB)