Lucknow: The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) court issued a fresh demolition notice to the owners of the Aliganj building where a fire claimed 15 lives last month, finding that the structure violated the sanctioned building plan and development rules.The notice, issued under section 27(1) of the UP Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973, was served on Virendra Pratap Shukla, Surendra Pratap Shukla and other owners of house no. MS-102, Aliganj Sector-D.The three-storey building was approved for residential use but was being used for commercial purposes. At the time of the fire, it housed a gaming and animation studio, a pet store and a veterinary clinic.LDA secretary Vivek Srivastava said the court found that the construction had been carried out in deviation from the sanctioned plan and in violation of development norms. A show-cause notice had earlier been issued, asking the owners to explain why the unauthorised construction should not be demolished.The case was heard by the prescribed authority court between Jul 7 and Jul 9. After considering the objections filed by the owners and the response submitted by enforcement zone-4, the court concluded that the commercial construction was illegal.The court observed that the owners failed to provide a satisfactory explanation or any document proving that the construction was authorised. It then ordered demolition of the unauthorised portions of the building. Following the order, LDA officials on Friday pasted a copy of the demolition notice at the site.The owners have been given 15 days to remove the illegal construction. If they fail to comply, the LDA will carry out the demolition and recover the cost from them as arrears of land revenue.The latest action follows the fire tragedy and renewed scrutiny of the building’s approval history. During its inquiry, the LDA found that demolition proceedings had already been initiated against the property in 2016 but were withdrawn within two months.According to LDA records, the 1,992-sq-ft property in Aliganj was allotted to Vijay Kumar through an LDA lottery in July 1980 under a hire-purchase scheme. Possession was handed over in Nov 1980. Vijay Kumar and his wife, Usha, became the registered owners through a sale deed in 2005 and later sold the property to Virendra Pratap Shukla and Surendra Pratap Shukla in Jan 2013. The property was mutated in their names in Aug 2014.A residential building plan was approved under the self-approval scheme on Aug 20, 2014. However, later inspections found construction beyond the sanctioned plan. The LDA registered a case and issued a demolition order on May 10, 2016.Records show that the demolition order was revoked on Jul 5, 2016, less than two months later. Enforcement lapses allowed the unauthorised construction and commercial use of the residential building to continue until the fatal fire.
