GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning’s (DTCP) enforcement wing has sealed six houses in Sushant Lok 2 for illegal commercial activities. This is part of an ongoing drive against commercial activities in residential areas in violation of the occupation certificate (OC) rules, officials said.
Since October, under the orders of the district town planner (enforcement), DTCP has sealed around 500 properties for running commercial activities illegally, while notices have been served to more than 750 violators.
DTP (enforcement) Manish Yadav said, “Six houses were sealed on Wednesday on the basis of complaints or field visits by DCTP staff in Sushant Lok 2. Stores and auto workshops were operating illegally in these properties. These activities were being carried out without permissions from the competent authorities, which is mandatory.”
Under the Non-Nuisance Rules of the Haryana Urban Development Act, no commercial activities, barring a few, can be operated from residential buildings. A few activities, which fall under non-nuisance category, are allowed only on ground floors, covering not more than 25% of the area or 50 sqm, whichever is lower, after being registered with DTCP so that they can be monitored in future.
These include services offered by doctors, lawyers, tax consultants, architects (without studio), contractor consultants, chartered accountants, company secretaries, property consultants and tourist guides. DTCP grants approval which is valid for five years, and for this, the operator has to deposit a fee of Rs 60,000.
On November 19, DTCP sealed four residential buildings in DLF 1 for violation of building norms. “The department had issued show cause notices to the offenders but they failed to furnish satisfactory replies. The building owners had carried out illegal construction of rooms in stilt parking and cutouts were covered in violation of the rules,” DTP Yadav had said.
According to the information received from the enforcement team after they got the complaints forwarded from CM window, show-cause notices were issued to the property owners and orders for restoration were also issued but no satisfactory reply was received, after which the buildings were sealed.
The department’s sealing campaign against illegal commercial activities going on in residential houses, which was put on hold due to festive season, resumed after Diwali.
Before then, DTCP recovered Rs 1 crore from offenders during sealing drives against unauthorised construction and illegal commercial activities in licensed colonies. From de-sealing of buildings, which were sealed for various violations, the department collected around Rs 50 lakh in the form of penalties and bank guarantees.
