Without an approved plan, no building registration Calcutta High Court.

KOLKATA: On Thursday, the Registrar of Assurances was instructed by the Calcutta High Court to refrain from registering any property sale deed without the approved plan.

Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, sitting as a division bench, issued the ruling while noting that the structure, which was still under construction when it collapsed in the Garden Reach neighborhood, lacked a sanction plan.

“It has been constructed over a body of water that has existed for the past forty years. The chief justice stated, taking note of the report submitted by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, “that the land conversion was authorized by the land revenue officer and the block land.”

The panel ordered the state government to provide the relatives of the deceased an additional Rs 3 lakh in compensation, on top of the Rs 2 lakh ex gratia that each family had already received. In addition, the division bench ordered the state to give each injured person an additional Rs 1 lakh in addition to the Rs 50,000 they had already paid.

In the Garden Reach case, the division bench further ordered the petitioner to send notice to Shams Iqbal, the local council member, and the developer, who is currently incarcerated at the Presidency Correctional Home. The chief justice declined to accept that comparable unpermitted constructions were occurring in the city without the consent of MLAs or local council members.

“What was the elected official doing throughout the construction? The CJ noted that they were unfit to remain in their position. Attorney Jaydeep Kar for KMC argued that the accused cops had been suspended by the civic body at the court’s request.

The court voiced its “anguish” about the absence of “official and political will” on the part of the authorities to carry out the court orders on unauthorized structures to their logical conclusion, even as it noted the KMC’s move to welcome complaints about unauthorized projects from the residents.

“Without official and political will, the enforcing agency cannot take action. There has been no activity at Bidhannagar. After visiting the location, the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate leaves, citing protests from the general population.

Yesterday, something similar occurred in another area of the city, according to the CJ. “Free reign should be granted to executive engineers.” Please let your cops do their jobs. You support them,” he remarked.

The CJ took use of the occasion to highlight the KMC’s inability to control hawkers operating in front of the organization’s offices.

Because the West Bengal Victim Compensation Scheme was revised in 2017 and simply sets the lowest limit of compensation rather than capping the maximum limit, the court sided with the state and enhanced the payout.