By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In the absence of any appeal either by the state government or the KHADC, the order of the division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya will make it difficult for the government to exempt scheduled areas from the purview of the MUDA building bylaws approved in 2011.
The outcome of the recent meeting convened by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma with the traditional heads and KHADC was that the MUDA building bylaws will not be made applicable to areas under district councils.
Earlier, the court, while disposing a PIL on the matter on February 16 last year observed that the building bylaws will be applicable in the entire Shillong master plan areas.
The PIL was filed by Tirot Sing Syiemlieh through his lawyer N. Syngkon.
In fact, the division bench was making absolute a similar order of the court delivered on December 16, 2015, which had said the jurisdiction of the MUDA bylaws will be extended beyond the municipal areas.
During the hearing of the case last year, the stand of the counsel for the KHADC was that the building bylaws as framed by MUDA cannot be made applicable to the autonomous district areas.
However, the court observed that these issues ought to have been raised by the KHADC in the appropriate forum and in the appropriate manner and not by way of an affidavit filed before the court.
Syngkon said on Thursday that the order of the division bench will have to be followed as there were no appeals from any quarters.
He pointed out that the district councils cover almost the whole of Meghalaya and if the MUDA building bylaws of 2011 are not made applicable to the whole state, the rules will be only for a small portion of the state (municipal areas).
Earlier, the PIL had challenged the public notice issued by MUDA on November 5, 2015, exempting the non-municipal areas from the purview of the bylaws of 2011. Following this, the court stayed the MUDA notification.
This compelled MUDA to withdraw the exemption notification on January 21, 2016.The PIL mover had said Meghalaya is in Zone 5, which is the highest level of seismic activity, and the area can experience earthquakes which can be as high as 8/9 on the Richter Scale.
Shillong is on the slope of the hill and landslide is a common feature here as a major portion of the hill in Shillong are loose soil and it is necessary to control, regulate and monitor the construction of buildings for the security and safety of its people, the petitioner had said.