Three Palampur MC officers indicted for allowing unauthorised construction

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 7

Three officers of Palampur Municipal Corporation — Municipal Commissioner, Planning Officer and Junior Engineer — have been indicted by the State Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau. They have been found guilty of allowing illegal and unauthorised construction, conducting irregularities in the approval of site plans of commercial and residential complexes within the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation in gross violation of rules laid down by the Town and Country Planning Department.

PAC found irregularities in 2023

• In the year 2023 SP, State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, had registered a complaint against officials of Palampur MC on the recommendations of the PAC of Himachal Vidhan Sabha.
• The PAC had inspected the records of Palampur MC and detected a number of irregularities in the approval of site plans of the buildings which encouraged unauthorised illegal construction in the town.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that in the year 2023, Superintendent of Police State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV & ACB), Dharamsala, had registered a complaint against the officials of Palampur MC on the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee of Himachal Vidhan Sabha. The PAC, during a visit to Palampur, had inspected the records of Palampur MC and detected a number of irregularities in the approval of site plans of the buildings which encouraged unauthorised illegal construction in the town.

Later, Joint Secretary, Vidhan Sabha (Shimla), in a letter to the State Vigilance Anti-Corruption Bureau (NZ) Dharamsala, directed a probe.

Later SV & ACB officials visited the MC office and seized records pertaining to the approvals given for the construction of buildings in the town. During the investigation, the Anti-Corruption Bureau prima facie found three officers of the MC, including the then Municipal Commissioner, guilty of granting illegal approvals. The Additional Director General, SV & ACB Satwant Atwal Trivedi has already written a letter to the Director Town and Country Planning Department, Shimla recommending department action against three officers who have been found guilty.

Ashish Sharma, Commissioner, MC,says, “Junior engineers and field staff of the municipal corporation conduct regular checks on illegal construction. The civic body has already issued notices in many cases as regards the violation of TCP rules.”