Delhi High Court Issues Notices on “Unauthorized” FAR Construction at Chandanwari CGHS
People who oppose FAR construction must come together to get this criminal activity stopped in Delhi.
January 29, 2020
By Rakesh Raman
The High Court of Delhi has issued notices to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and others on the extended construction [a.k.a. Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction ] at Chandanwari Apartments (Chandanwari CGHS), Sector-10, Dwarka.
In order to stop FAR construction, the Chandanwari petitioner has claimed that DDA has accorded sanction for construction which is contrary to the extant provisions of the law. Hence, the construction must be stopped.
It has been observed that DDA – which is among the most corrupt organizations in India – is giving permission for unauthorized FAR construction in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) where millions of people are getting harmed with FAR construction.
As corruption worth thousands of crores of rupees is happening in FAR construction, the managing committees (MCs) of housing societies have ganged up with builders’ mafia to carry out FAR construction which is spreading lethal dust and noise pollution in the inhabited housing complexes.
The corrupt MCs of these housing societies enjoy full protection from bureaucrats in Delhi government and criminal politicians, as they are running a joint criminal enterprise to defraud the gullible residents and extort money from them.
While DDA is at the forefront of this citywide criminal racket, other departments that are part of this crime include Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of the Delhi Government, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Delhi Police, and Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC).
The Chandanwari CGHS petitioner has listed a number of factors in the petition [ Delhi High Court W.P. (C) 638/2020 ] to contend that the FAR construction at Chandanwari is illegal and unauthorized and therefore it should be stopped.
The factors include the safety of the building, fire risks, environmental damage, and others. The petition also argues that the additional construction is violating a number of existing laws while the DDA has deliberately ignored the violations while giving its permission.
The Delhi High Court has directed all the respondents including DDA to file their reply by the first week of February 2020. Since there is no valid reason for FAR construction in any housing society because it is a criminal activity, it is expected that the court will stop construction at Chandanwari CGHS.
It is being observed that since DDA has given permission for illegal construction, it does not file its reply in the court or defers its response. Similarly, the corrupt MCs of housing societies which are getting notices to stop FAR construction are trying to evade the court directions to continue the criminal construction activity and force residents to pay money for illegal construction.
Therefore, now there is an immediate need to file criminal cases against the corrupt MC members and officials of DDA, RCS, DFS, DUAC, and others so that they could be caught and imprisoned.
People who oppose FAR construction must come together to get this criminal activity stopped in Delhi.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications and research reports on different subjects.
