HC quashes collector’s notice to builder in Besa-Beltarodi

Nagpur: In a setback to the collector, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court cancelled a notice issued to Harihar Agency, which has constructed housing units in Besa Beltarodi area. The verdict came as a big relief to citizens living in dwellings constructed by the builder.
The petitioner agency, through counsel PP Kothari, moved the judiciary challenging collector’s notice to its units issued under Section 52 to 55 of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP) in 2010. The collector had asked the developer to immediately stop ongoing construction, claiming he hadn’t taken permission for construction activities.
A PIL alleging massive violations in a majority of flat schemes in the area is pending with the HC since 2010. After the PIL by social activist Anil Wadpalliwar, a high-level panel was constituted to inspect dwellings in the area. In its report, the panel found that over 300 buildings have been constructed blatantly flouting FSI and other norms like provisions of MRTP Act.
The panel said that none of these buildings were granted sanction by the collector and all of them had illegally sought permission from the respective gram panchayats, which lacked technical expertise to monitor rules and regulations related to building development.
The collector issued notices to all such buildings for flouting rules and also sought explanation why they hadn’t taken sanction from him.
On Friday, petitioner’s counsel pointed out that when they first approached collector’s office for sanctioning project, they were diverted to the gram panchayat and even town planning department had replied in same vein. Accordingly, they were accorded sanction by the gram panchayat. The case was listed before a division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Shreeram Modak.