Probe finds lapses by civic staff, 3 officials suspended

NEW DELHI: The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Tuesday suspended three officials and launched a vigilance inquiry against a fourth for not acting against the illegal building in Mundka where a devastating fire last Friday killed 27 people, civic officials aware of the matter said.

The action came on the recommendations of an inquiry committee headed by an additional commissioner that was constituted by the North MCD after the incident. Those suspended include a licensing inspector, section officer of the general branch and section officer of the house tax department, the officials said. The civic body has started a vigilance inquiry and penalty proceedings against the junior engineer who allowed the building to come up despite being booked for illegal construction in 2011.

A North MCD spokesperson on Tuesday said that, prima facie, it appears to be a case of laxity on the part of the officials of the general branch, house tax department, as well as the building department of the then Najafgarh zone of the erstwhile unified MCD.

The probe committee was asked to submit a report on 10 action points within 48 hours of the incident. A senior municipal official, who was part of the inquiry team, said that four-storey building was located in the extended Lal Dora area of Mundka village. This was in violation of the rules that do not allow industrial units in the Lal

Dora or village land.

Last Friday, a massive fire spread through the three floors of the building where a CCTV and Wi-fi router assembling unit was being run illegally, killing at least 27 persons and injuring several moire.

“According to the inquiry, three floors of the building had been rented out to Harish Goyal and the owner of the building, Manish Lakra, lived with his family on the top floor. The basement was being used for storage purpose and ground floor was vacant,” the official said.

Goyal ran the industrial unit in the building.

Citing the inquiry report, North MCD officials said there were multiple illegalities involved, and were not acted upon by the officers concerned. They said the building is situated on a road which has neither been marked commercial nor mixed land use. Commercial activities in Delhi are allowed only on roads marked under these two categories, besides authorised industrial areas.

“According to the municipal building department records, the building is 11 years old and it was booked by the then Najafgarh Zone officials on March 8, 2011 and June 20, 2011. The owner never applied for sanction of building plan. The inquiry report has also concluded that the building was being used for industrial purpose which is not permitted in extended Lal Dora area, and no valid factory license was issued to the factory,” the report said.

The Najafgarh zone that existed under the unified MCD, came under the Narela zone of North MCD after the trifurcation of the MCD in 2012.

The inquiry report has also found that no property tax had ever been paid by the owner even though notices were issued by the department. “Action against the building in the past was taken in 2019. One the directions of Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee, a liquor shop that was running from the ground floor of the premises was sealed in January 2019. Then, on the orders of the committee in July 2019 , the property was de-sealed after removing property. The ground floor stayed vacant since then,” the spokesperson said.

The monitoring committee is empowered to take action against the violations related to the Delhi Master Plan and other building norms.

Officials who asked not to be named said that despite so many violations, the building continued to exist and the owner even rented the space for a factory. They said this points to serious lapses on the part of the departments concerned.

North MCD commissioner Sanjay Goel said that action will be taken against the junior engineer concerned to set an example that the liability for such lapses will be fixed and those responsible will have to face action.

“Generally, cause of action is not taken after a period of more than 11 years but we want to send out a message that no one will escape scrutiny. We are maintaining transparency in this process and we will take every step to prevent to stop recurrence of such incidents. Daily action taken reports against such units will now be made public,” Goel said.

He added that survey has been launched across municipal zones to identify more such illegal buildings.