Acting Mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Parvaiz Qadri on Wednesday sealed the office of the Joint Commissioner, Planning at the civic body, accusing the head of the section for delaying building permissions to applicants.
“Yes, I have locked the office of Joint Commissioner, Planning. This officer is not fit to head such a crucial wing of the corporation,” Qadri told PTI. The acting mayor said he has already written to the government twice to remove the officer.
“As per the mandate of law, the SMC is bound to issue building permission within two weeks but most of the cases are pending with this section for months together,” he alleged.
As seeking legal permission has become cumbersome since Ghulam Hassan Mir was posted as Joint Commissioner, Planning, the number of illegal constructions in the city had gone up, he claimed.
“An IAS officer was granted building permission within 15 days. That’s the only achievement of this officer. Ordinary people have to wait for months, ” he added.
Mir did not respond to repeated calls to seek his comment on his office being locked down.
The officer was last month allegedly assaulted by two employees of the SMC for delaying the building permission for their residential houses. Mir had filed a police complaint against the duo, who were later arrested in connection with the case.