Supertech — Illegal construction

Address: Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, 201307

Website: www.supertechlimited.com

Namaskar!

We are a group of 1000+ aggrieved citizens living in a Society called Czar Suites in Greater Noida and the builder here is a serial offender: SUPERTECH LTD. His brochures project an idyllic life for flat buyers with lush greenery and world class amenities, but the builder has gone on to construct a total of 1904 units of which, according to a recent HC observations, 1060 are unauthorised and have been ordered to be sealed. You can imagine the plight of these hapless buyers. Through this email, we humbly seek to reach out to you and make an appeal for your attention, time and efforts in support of lawful and just resolution of the grave issues that our society is marred with.

Builders violate with impunity the sanctioned building plans and indulge in deviations much to the prejudice of the planned development of the city and at the peril of the occupants of the premises constructed or of the inhabitants of the city at large. Serious threat is posed to ecology and environment and, at the same time, the infrastructure consisting of water supply, sewerage and traffic movement facilities suffers unbearable burden and is often thrown out of gear.

Unwary purchasers in search of roof over their heads and purchasing flats/apartments from builders, find themselves having fallen prey and become victims to the designs o[censored]nscrupulous builders. The builder conveniently walks away having pocketed the money leaving behind the unfortunate occupants to face the music in the event o[censored]nauthorised constructions being detected or exposed and threatened with demolition.

Though the local authorities, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) in this case, have the staff consisting of engineers and inspectors whose duty is to keep a watch on building activities and to promptly stop the illegal constructions or deviations coming up, they often fail in discharging their duty. Either they don't act or do not act promptly or do connive at such activities apparently for illegitimate considerations.

If such activities are to stop some stringent actions are required to be taken by ruthlessly demolishing the illegal constructions and non-compoundable deviations. The unwary purchasers who shall be the sufferers must be adequately compensated by the builder. The arms of the law must stretch to catch hold of such unscrupulous builders.

The conduct of the builder in the present case deserves to be noticed. He knew it fully well what was the permissible construction as per the sanctioned building plans and yet he not only constructed additional units in form of villas and apartments, and such units were totally unauthorised. Probably he was under the impression that he would be able to either escape the clutches of the law or twist the arm of the law by some manipulation. This impression must prove to be wrong.

In all developed and developing countries there is emphasis on planned development of cities which is sought to be achieved by zoning, planning and regulating building construction activity. Such planning, though highly complex, is a matter based on scientific research, study and experience leading to rationalisation of laws by way of legislative enactments and rules and regulations framed thereunder. There are laws in our country too, to regulate the building construction with respect to floor area, the number of floors, the extent of height rise and the nature o[censored]se to which a built-up property may be subjected in any area. But seldom these regulations are enforced against the violators.

The individuals as property owners have rights to peace, good order, dignity, protection and comfort and safety of the community. Not only filth, stench and unhealthy places must be eliminated, but the layout and building plan should also help in achieving family values, youth values, seclusion and clean air to make the locality a better place to live. Building regulations should also help in reduction or elimination of fire hazards, the avoidance of traffic dangers and the lessening of prevention of traffic congestion in the streets and roads. Zoning and building regulations must be enforced from the point of view of the control of community development, the prevention of overcrowding of land, the furnishing of recreational facilities like parks and playgrounds and the availability of adequate water, sewerage and other utility services.

A professional builder is supposed to understand the laws better and deviations by such builders can safely be assumed to be deliberate and done with the intention of earning profits and hence deserve to be dealt with sternly so as to act as a deterrent for future. It is common knowledge that the builders enter into underhand dealings. Be that as it may, the State Governments should think of levying heavy penalties on such builders and therefrom develop a welfare fund which can be utilised for compensating and rehabilitating such innocent or unwary buyers who are displaced due to demolition of illegal constructions.

What needs to be emphasised is that illegal and unauthorised constructions of buildings and other structure not only violate the laws and the concept of planned development of the particular area but also affect various fundamental and constitutional rights of other persons. The common man feels cheated when he finds that those making illegal and unauthorised constructions are supported by the people entrusted with the duty of preparing and executing master plan/development plan/zonal plan. The reports of demolition of hutments and jhuggi-jhopris belonging to poor and disadvantaged section of the society frequently appear in the media but one seldom gets to read about demolition of illegally/unauthorisedly constructed multi-storied structure raised by economically affluent people running real estate business. The failure of the State apparatus to take prompt action to demolish such illegal constructions has convinced the citizens that planning laws are enforced only against poor and all compromises are made by the State machinery when it is required to deal with those who have money power or unholy nexus with the power corridors.

Help us get justice as we look forward to you. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".

With best regards,

Nilanjan Bandyopadhyay
Czar Suites, Omicron 1, Greater Noida