Bhubaneswar civic body to set up three more ODA courts to resolve building plan disputes
: For expedited disposal of disputes arising from building plan approvals under
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation
(BMC) limits, three more
Odisha Development Authority
(ODA) courts will be set up under the civic body, where designated officers will hear and resolve cases.
At present, there is only one ODA court that deals with thousands of minor and major disputes, creating a huge backlog. An estimated 7,000 disputes are pending for disposal, BMC officials said.
The court is empowered under the ODA Act, 1982, to decide on the violation of building rules. Earlier, the court functioned under the
Bhubaneswar Development Authority
(BDA). It started operating under BMC from Nov 2016.
BMC officials said that as per the initial plan, the cases will be distributed among the zones according to allotted disputes of a respective zone. "Three additional commissioners, one in each zone, will be designated as authorised officers to hear the cases," said BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Sahu.
He made the statement on the sidelines of a recent discussion in a corporation meeting where BMC commissioner Rajesh Patil expressed the view that opening of more ODA courts will reduce the burden on a single court.
When the ODA court started functioning, 1,034 pending cases were transferred from BDA. BMC officials said that because of the court, people are able to file complaints directly without having to run from officer to officer. The court also takes cases from the BMC's enforcement squad.
"The enforcement squads keep receiving complaints of encroachments. The ODA court has helped to take up encroachment cases and conducts their hearing expeditiously," said a BMC officer.
BMC officials said most of the cases relate to carrying out construction beyond the approved plan or minor and major deviations. "Since BMC is now dealing with building plan approval, we find out whether an individual has used space beyond the permissible area shown in the plan. If we find a violation, we transfer it to the ODA court," an officer said.
Sources said if applicants don't find the court's direction satisfactory, they can move the appellate authority. In the case of ODA court, the appellate authority is secretary of the housing and urban development department.
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