Backs to the wall

MCD officials claim they have no idea if the civic agency authorised the construction

Students of Municipal Corporation Primary School at South Extension, Part-1, are cramped for room these days. That's because a part of their playground has allegedly been encroached upon and the particular area is now being used as parking space.


Crossing the line? A picture of the residence of the MCD councillor taken
from the school playground. Pic/Rajeev Tyagi

An NGO, Astitva, working for the rights of the children has raised the issue saying that the land from the school has been acquired illegally by the Works Department of MCD for the sole purpose of widening a lane called Jag Ram Mandir Lane of 100 metre length. The mater gains importance since charges have been levelled against the local MCD councillor.

"A wall has been illegally erected at the boundary of the playground reducing it in area for the purpose of parking personal vehicles. 10 feet of the school playground has been cut-off for this purpose," said D N Srivastava, Chairman, Astitva.

A complaint regarding the matter has been filed with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR). Taking the matter into cognizance, the commission has issued a notice to the concerned authorities to take necessary action. The notice has been issued to the MCD Commissioner, the Additional Commissioner, Education and the Director, Primary Education seeking reply by April 6.

"The commission has taken serious note of the widening of the lane by taking away a piece of the land from the MCD school since this would be adversely affecting their interests and shall be counter productive for them. The commission would like to have your comments before taking a view on the complaint which should reach on or before 06.04.2011," the letter said.

"This is a severe case of depriving children of their rights to proper infrastructure and playground as also under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009. The construction of a wall reducing the playground area of the school can lead to contempt of court," said BC Narula, RTE Consultant, DCPCR.

The newly erected wall is also not properly constructed and it allows stray animals to get inside the playground, putting the children at risk.

"They are doing all this for their personal purpose; no one is concerned about the children. The students are young and they have no knowledge about their safety. The school is also situated in a busy residential area. If proper care is not taken, the children might hurt themselves," said a senior official from MCD on the condition of anonymity.

Officials of the civic agency agree that rules have been broken while constructing the wall. "The matter did not come before the standing committee; I am very sure about it. The work has been done illegally without taking any official permission," said Jai Kishan Sharma, Leader of Opposition in MCD.

In any such act of using school land for private purposes, it is mandatory that the request should be approved by the standing committee. While the committee had received the request, it was not informed of any such developments.

Yogendra Chandolia, Chairman, Standing Committee, MCD said: "The matter had come to us some seven-eight months back. Though, any inch of the land allotted to a school cannot be used for any other purpose, still the case can be put to resolution. As of now, there is no clue if the case was passed or not."u00a0

The Other Side

The concerned councillor refutes all such allegations saying that all the work has been done keeping in mind legal terms and conditions.
"We have not done anything illegal. All the construction work has been done with the permission from the standing committee. Officially, the lane has to be 30 feet broad. The matter was with the standing committee from past two years but it was passed by them recently, so we constructed the wall just fifteen days back," said Ravinder Chaudhary, Chairman/Chairperson, Ward Committee, Central Zone. When asked about the opening in the wall leading entry into the playground, he expressed astonishment and did not answer the question.

Hammeru00a0and tongs

Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin has served notices to nearly 50 public functionaries, including MLAs and councillors, for illegal construction and violation of building bylaws.

Over 30 of these functionaries have admitted to violations before the Lokayukta and now want to demolish the illegal portions and save whatever that can be regularized by paying charges. Lokayukta Sarin started issuing notices later last year following verification into a complaint from MCD councillor Preeti Behn who was herself facing an inquiry in Jhilmil area of Shahdara.

MCD sealed the Congress councillor's property but she complained that she had been singled out while many powerful and well-connected MLAs and councilors had been left untouched. She went on to draw up a list of one minister, 19 MLAs and 40 councillors who she alleged had violated building bylaws. After verification, the Lokayukta issued notices to 50 public functionaries for violations, including construction without sanction plans.