As per senior officials from the administrative department for the Union Territory of Chandigarh, UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit—who also serves as the Governor of Punjab— is upset with Punjab Estate Office officials because of their “corrupt practices”.
Early on Monday, the administration sealed Berkeley Square—a major commercial complex in Chandigarh for flouting several environmental norms. Once news of the sealing surfaced, Governor Purohit also filed an inquiry against the Estate office for “illegally releasing” Occupation Certificates to several similar units in the Union Territory without due diligence. The inquiry ordered by the Governor will look into the process of issuing these certificates; many of these units were allowed to occupy or lease land without their records and primitive environmental norms and conditions being thoroughly checked. Berkeley Square was sealed after the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) issued orders to do so with immediate effect for violating several environmental norms. The directors of the firm were also slapped with an environmental compensation of Rs 3.75 lakh. A notice issued by CPCC member secretary T C Nautiyal stated, “consent issued to M/s Berkeley Realtech Limited…is hereby revoked with immediate effect.” The compensation amount of Rs 3.75 lakh has to be deposited “as per order of National Green Tribunal within 15 days from the date of issue of these directions”.
As per a copy of the order, the department said Berkeley director, Ranjeev Dahuja, could not justify the violations mentioned in the show cause notice. The CPCC also said that they had not informed this office regarding the change of name or the merger of their company with M/s RSA Motors Pvt Limited in 2017, and took consent to establish and operate under the expansion category on the name of M/s Berkeley Realtech Limited in 2021. The environmental clearance (EC) submitted in February 2009, along with the application occupation certificate (OC) appears to be invalid. The detailed notice quoted back-to-back violations by those in charge of running the building including “disposing of hazardous waste generated by them” for which requisite documents were not submitted. “Moreover the annual return submitted by the unit… does not match with the office records.” Records were also not maintained in connection with the effluent and sewage treatment plant’s activities or the expansion/modification of the unit.
Godrej Eternia also among violators
As per officials, the Godrej building—co-owned by Chandigarh Mayor Anup Gupta—which sees over 100 prominent business operations, may also be at risk of being sealed soon. The Chandigarh Estate Office, in a show cause notice sent to all owners, had claimed that the building plan and its occupation certificate had been obtained by “misrepresenting and concealing facts”. The notice issued to 15 landowners claimed that the Godrej Eternia building fell 10 km within a notified wildlife sanctuary (Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and City Bird Sanctuary), which implies that it requires permission from the National Board for Wildlife. However, no such permission was taken. “The said permission from National Wildlife Board has not been submitted to the Estate Office, UT Chandigarh even after the expiry of more than 10 years after completion of the building,” the notice said.
