The Hindu Business Line : <I>Wanted: A humane approach </I>

Unauthorised constructions and encroachments have been with us all the time. The administrative machinery rouses itself fitfully into action, whenever it suits its interests, and goes to sleep thereafter, allowing (in more malodorous senses than one) more of them to sprout, until it gets into a mood for the next binge. Of late, the higher judiciary has been stern and unrelenting in applying intense pressure on public authorities to undertake a sustained drive against violations of building laws, zonal master plans and illegal occupation of public land.

The Supreme Court has been taking upon itself the onerous task of monitoring for almost a year the course of implementation of its sealing orders on commercial establishments in the residential areas of Delhi. It has come down heavily on the Union Ministry of Urban Development for enacting a special law in mid-2006 providing for a year-long moratorium on punitive action in order to give itself time to evolve balanced and well-considered policies governing such "unauthorised development" (as the Act describes the constructions).

Likewise, it has just last month dismissed the Tamil Nadu Government's appeal against a Madras High Court order quashing amendment to the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (TNTCP) Act, 1971, facilitating regularisation of unauthorised constructions in Chennai. The High Court, on its part, has appointed a Monitoring Committee to ensure compliance with its orders for demolition of illegal constructions.

Human angle

On a strict view of the omissions and commissions by government agencies and builders, the stand of the judiciary cannot be faulted. Of course, one can only hope that concern with matters of administrative supervision of this nature is not at the cost of disposal of huge backlog of regular cases.

But the malady has a human and socio-economic angle that transcends the mere mechanistic and legalistic aspects. It is an honoured legacy of all systems of jurisprudence down the ages that justice under the law should be tempered with wisdom and compassion. It is not humane to look at unauthorised constructions and encroachments purely as transgressions deserving of the utmost ruthlessness, devastating thousands of families.

Those cosily settled in the comforts of their homes should learn to spare a thought to the heart-rending plight of the poor and the down-trodden who are thrown on the streets with their meagre belongings.

Similarly, enforcement of the law should not degenerate into a mindless exercise depriving the livelihoods of huge numbers of those supporting themselves to the best of their ability. Hence, these sections should not be uprooted unless alternative sites are ready for their immediate rehabilitation.

Understanding needed

As regards illegal constructions, unless they hinder some manifest public purpose like, say, construction of a highway or an industrial estate, or throw town planning into a disarray, they should be taken as additions to physical assets satisfying the insistent demand for office or residential space.

Since, however, such additions have been in violation of the law, it would be quite in order to levy on those culpable a penalty equivalent to double or treble the cost of the constructions. In all these respects, the approach of the Tamil Nadu Government had been both humane and practical and well worth emulation.

In sum, all involved — the executive, legislative and the judiciary — should deal with this human problem, stemming from exploding population and the governments' inability to cope with economic and social demands, in a spirit of understanding.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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