In a big relief to common man, the newly elected BJP led Delhi government has issued an order, making to clear that Delhi police has no role to stop or allow constructions in the national Capital. There is no provision under Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957 by which a person is required to seek the permission from police for carrying out the construction. It has been informed that there is a misconception prevalent to the effect that a person needs to obtain permission from the police for carrying out construction of a building,” Additional Chief Secretary of Delhi, Naveen Kumar Choudhary said in a circular issued on Saturday.
Delhi's Additional Chief Secretary further directed the Delhi police to sensitise their field officials to prevent the misuse of the provision of law and to remove the misconception that there is any need of permission from police for carrying out any construction of building.
This comes after a high level meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday. The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood and Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and other senior officials of policing departments.
During the meeting concerns were raised about police officers demanding bribes for allowing illegal construction activities. There were several instances in the past when police personnel caught taking bribe for allowing constructions.
“Building construction activity is regulated by the MCD and other Local Bodies in their respective jurisdictions. Section 312 / 313 of the DMC Act, 1957 provides finalising of Layout Plan, Section 336 of the DMC Act, 1957 provides for sanction of building plan and Section 346 for occupancy / completion certificate. There is no provision under DMC Act, 1957 by which a person is required to seek the permission from police for carrying out the construction”.
“There are, however, certain provisions, in the DMC Act, 1957, related to giving information by police to the MCD wrt an offence under the DMC Act or any rule, regulation or by laws made there under or carrying out investigation of such offence and follow up action [for example - Section 474, 475 and 466 A of the DMC Act, 1957]. It has been informed that there is a misconception prevalent to the effect that a person needs to obtain permission from the police for carrying out construction of a building. It has also been brought to the notice that there is sometimes misuse of the provisions mentioned in the (para 2) above for the purpose of rent seeking,” reads the circular.
“Therefore, Delhi Police is directed to sensitise their field officials to prevent the misuse of the provision of law and to remove the misconception that there is any need of permission from Police for carrying out any construction of building. However, the police authority will continue to assist and provide full support to all municipal officers and other municipal employees in the exercise of their lawful authority [Section, 475 of the DMC Act, 1957],” it said.
In 2014, then police commissioner BS Bassi had noted that the police did not have an inherent authority to stop any unauthorised construction on their own and had issued a circular that asked police officers to restrict their roles to being 'eyes and ears' and only inform municipal authorities about any illegality.