LS clears bill giving 3-yr relief on illegal constructions

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill seeking to extend the immunity of slums and illegal structures in Delhi from penal action until December 31, 2020.

Illegal structures are a common sight in the national capital, where land prices are relatively high. While no authoritative estimates exist, the city’s civic administration officials say the number of such structures could exceed a hundred thousand.

Illegal structures that came up between March 2002 and May 2014 were protected from sealing and demolition under a special provision law enacted in 2011, with a validity of three years. The immunity granted under the existing bill ends on December 31.

This will be the second instance of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Act getting an extension. The Rajya Sabha is likely to take up the bill for approval this week.

Housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the national capital would witness “unprecedented chaos” if the bill was not passed.

“The legislation will give cover against punitive action... until December 2020,” he said, accusing the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit government of not enacting a proper policy on the matter.

The legislation is expected to address the concerns of a large number of slum-dwellers and traders, who were panicking in the aftermath of a sealing drive conducted by the Supreme Courtappointed monitoring committee. When the immunity was first extended for three years in 2014, then Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu told Parliament that the objective was not only to protect certain forms of unauthorised structures but also provide government agencies with an opportunity to finalise norms, policy guidelines and feasible strategies of implementation. However, not much has happened in the last three years.

The bill was passed amid protests by Congress members against Union minister Anantkumar Hegde’s remarks that the ruling BJP was “here to change the Constitution”. Telangana Rashtra Samithi members also trooped into the well with placards demanding a separate high court for the new state.

Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy and CPI(M) legislator Mohammad Salim refused to speak on the issue, insisting that the bill cannot be passed amid such a din. Prominent structures classified as illegal include shops, eateries, designer boutiques and furniture showrooms along the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road and outlets at upscale neighbourhoods such as Shahpur Jat and Hauz Khas Village.