JMC CEOto appear before court on Nov 20

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court has summoned the JMC CEO on November 20 for not apprising it about the illegal activities in residential colonies.
The summons came after the JMC top brass has entrusted all eight zonal offices to keep an eye on any violations of building by-laws and Municipal Act 2009.
Many see this as an attempt to pass the buck on to the l offices. In the past, the enforcement wing and the zonal offices have failed to stop large-scale violation of laws in the city.
However, the CEO maintains he will apprise the curt about the progress in this direction.Despite HC's order to remove all illegal constructions and encroachments, violations continue with occasionally a few demolition drives. Most officials agree that lack of strong political will and interference by local politicians have worsened the situation.
Meanwhile, all zonal offices in the city seem to be up in arms against this order which makes them directly responsible for any illegal activities. A zonal commissioner told TOI that in the past zonal teams were attacked by people for carrying out demolition drives. Also, they do not have enough legal muscle to counter the influential. "It should be the enforcement wing which has enough police force and legal backing to deal with these issues. We are ready to provide them the required data and help,"the commissioner said.
Commissioner vigilance, Lokesh Sonwal who oversees JMC's enforcement wing said documents such as lease papers, building plan, maps are with zonal offices.
"We are ready to provide the security if we get the permission from the CEO. Zonal offices have been lazy to take action," he alleged and added that "lack of coordination among the department have been the key problem".
Denying such allegations, zonal commissioners say they do not have enough manpower to deal with many issues, including collection of revenues, survey of land, serving notices to the tax defaulters and regulating sign boards.
"Sometimes we do have enough stationery to send notices. We do not have any facility. When we ask for police force before any majordrive, we seldom get enough people," a commissioner said.
Sources said since the government could not crack down on big offenders and land mafias, the onus of removing illegal construction has now been shifted to zonal offices.
According to an estimate, almost 70% of residential and commercial properties are illegal in the city. However, asking the zonal offices to take action against such offenders is not a practical proposition.
"It is like asking for the moon from the zone offices," a commissioner said.