HC: Illegal constructions warrant strict penalty
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Kolkata: Upholding the trial court's conviction of a man, Netai Sil, who built an illegal structure in Beleghata despite a KMC stop-work notice, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday observed that unauthorised constructions warranted a strict penalty.
Anyone responsible for unauthorised constructions was liable to be convicted, the court said.
Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta held that if a person was found responsible for constructing unauthorised structures that endangered or were likely to endanger life or property, it was punishable with up to five-year imprisonment and up to Rs 50,000 fine. "The trial court's sentence is appropriate. Unauthorised construction without a sanctioned plan warrants a strict penalty, and an accused is liable to be convicted," Justice Gupta held.
Sil is the owner/occupier of the illegal construction. By an order of 2016, the sessions judge upheld his conviction in the 2014 case under section 401A of the KMC Act. Sil was convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined Rs 5,000. The construction was unauthorised and without any sanctioned plan.
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The judge noted that Sil could not give a valid explanation or show any evidence to establish it was authorised. He could not prove the construction was stable.
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