The government has made building permission a prerequisite for getting water and electricity connections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The fresh instructions have been issued after the authorities noted that in many cases No Objection Certificates (NoCs) were issued in violation of rules following which the applicants had managed to secure water and electricity connections too.
“It has been made mandatory to have a copy of sanctioned building permission granted under J&K Control of Building Operation Act and J&K Metropolitan Region Development Authorities, Act-2018, as a prerequisite before sanctioning any temporary, permanent electricity, water connection in favour of any individual in the entire Union Territory,” reads a circular.
To avoid further violations, an official in Urban Local and Bodies said “No permission for construction or any other developmental activity or for commencement of work on any project of the nature and description shall be granted by any authority, including any municipal or local authority or project implementing agency without prior written permission of the respective J&K Metropolitan Region Development Authorities (MRDA).” The official said no development activity involving land more than 10 kanals or which shall have a significant impact on the urban environment, traffic and mobility in their surroundings shall be undertaken by any authority or person without prior written permission of the respective Authority. Accordingly, all administrative Secretaries have been asked by Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta to direct the field functionaries not to grant any kind of approval till asked by the competent authority.
“Many constructions are being undertaken within jurisdictional limits of Master Plan by various encroachers and violators without seeking requisite building permission from the competent authority, Jammu Development Authority (JDA) or Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC),” reads the circular. In some cases, these violators have even sought NoCs from Block Development Officers (BDOs) within the area falling in the limits of Jammu Master Plan-2032, according to an official document.
“Some of them have also raised loans from banks or financial institutions recognized by the government for raising constructions as per NoCs granted by the BDOs,” reads the document, stating the BDOs were incompetent authorities to issue approval for raising any construction in jurisdiction of Master Plan Jammu.