Loopholes found in regularisation of City's unauthorised colonies

The audit of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on regularisation of unauthorised colonies has deflated the tall claims of the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in Delhi by exposing serious loopholes in the process.

In September 2012, the Delhi government had passed an order of regularisation of 895 unauthorised colonies. The CAG conducted an audit of 91 of these colonies (about 10 per cent of total number of colonies).  It was found that the Delhi government authorities changed many rules drafted by the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

“The base map, which was supposed to be drawn by the local body or DDA, was provided by the residents’ society. Regularisation orders were being issued before providing basic infrastructure to such colonies,” it said.

The auditor found that the government issued 1,218 provisional certificates, which were distributed by former UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to colonies which were not in the scheme of regularisation.

“The boundaries of the unauthorised colonies were fixed without consultation from the Revenue Department during the regularisation process, which led to allotment of excess land for Resident Welfare Associations,” it said.

The CAG also found that during boundary fixation for regularisation, the authorities did not consider overlapping of boundary on DDA land and other prohibited areas.

“The Urban Development Department failed to provide basic services like sewer lines, water lines, roads and drainage to unauthorised colonies despite incurring an expenditure of Rs 3,029.21 crore till March 2013,” the CAG said.

The audit findings also indicate that the two premium agencies of the Delhi government — Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) — suffered a huge loss due to loopholes.

“The DSIIDC suffered a loss of Rs 3.07 crore in operation of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Trust as it lost exemption due to non-compliance with rules prescribed by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). A loss of Rs 2 crore was also incurred on water charges paid to DJB (Delhi Jal Board) for a building in Jhandewalan area as it paid charges of the period prior to the transfer of property to it,” it said.

The CAG found that the DUSIB has not been fully constituted and it has not prepared any scheme for relocation of jhuggi jhopari (JJ) clusters. It has also found irregularities in award of work for managing permanent night shelters.