Site co-owned by Chandigarh Mayor in hot water; Estate office claims occupation certificate obtained by ‘concealing’ facts

The notice issued to 15 landowners claimed that ” construction has been done without taking prior clearance from the standing committee of National Board of Wildlife as applicable as the building fell 10 km within the notified wildlife sanctuary (Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and City Bird Sanctuary), which implies that it requires permission of 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 showcause notice from the Estate Officer said.

Also as per clause 20 of the Chandigarh Conversion of Land Use of Industrial Sites into Commercial Activity in Industrial Area, Phase I and Phase II, Scheme 2005, construction at this site requires compliance of said EIA Notification 2006.

It further said: “Also it has come to the notice of the Estate officer that the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has initiated action on July 20 against this site for non-fulfillment of conditions and violation of conditions. Therefore, then evironmental clearance (EC) submitted on February 26, 2009 along with the application of occupation certificate (OC) appears to be invalid. Thus it is evident that building plan dated August 31, 2009, and subsequent revised building plans (RBPs) along with OC dated June 9, 2015 has been obtained by misrepresenting and concealing the facts”.

It was also mentioned in the notice that building violations had also been reported during the joint inspection on July 19, 2023 at the site by the team of SDO(B) and Department of Urban Planning, UT Chandigarh. The notice has been served by the Vinay Pratap Singh, Chandigarh Estate Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, after the environmental clearance of the building came in question.

Chandigarh’s department of environment had last month served a notice that wildlife clearance for the building has not been taken. In 2009, the clearance was granted by the Ministry of Environment to Godrej Eternia subject to the decision or outcome of the apex court in a writ petition of Goa Foundation vs Union of India.

As per the notice, a wildlife clearance was required before beginning the operations, which according to the UT administration, has not been taken.

There are over 100 major businesses operating in the building, some even at international level like the back-end operations of brands like McDonald’s and Domino’s. The building also houses the company running the back-end operations of panic buttons of Nirbhaya framework of 15 states. The back-end operations of ambulance services of three states, and offices of Tata motors, Uber, Zomato, Mahindra, Quantum Papers, Bayer, Dr Ortho etc are also inside this establishment.

While some offices are owned, others see rentals of Rs 1.5 lakh per month on an average. Lakhs of rupees have been spent on interior and technical infrastructure investment as well.

One of the businessmen who was part of the delegation that personally appeared before the deputy commissioner said that “it appeared to be a formality as the deputy commissioner said the moment EC is cancelled for the building, the same is sealed within minutes irrespective of any level of businesses operating from there.”
Mayor among 15 landowners

The notice has been served to Chandigarh Mayor Anup Gupta, Yogesh Gupta, Neelam Gupta and Veena Gupta – all with the same address; Vivek Mohan Mittal, Arvind Mittal, Anita Mittal, Vasundhra Mittal – four at same residence; M/s Valco Industries, Narinder Mohan Mittal, Surinder Mohan Mittal and Jatinder Mohan Mittal – all with same residence, and Deepak sharma, Sharanjeet Kaur Mangat and Mansukh Singh Mangat.

Mayor Gupta, while speaking to The Indian Express, claimed that he is just one of the owners of the land and has nothing to do with the controversy. “The building was given to Godrej Eternia which did the entire paper work for the clearances required,” Gupta added.

Companies anxious

The notices have caused jitters in organisations that run their businesses from the building. “We were surprised to see this notice. Rather we feel cheated as the matter pertains to an environmental clearance taken by Godrej in 2009 and the subsequent occupation certificate was given by Estate Office Chandigarh itself,” a businessman on the condition of anonymity said. He further said that based upon these government documents itself, the unit buyers invested in this building. “It’s quite laughable that, the UT administration has washed off it’s hands of the documents they themselves had issued,” he added.

The businessman also said that the environmental clearance has to be supported with compliance report every six months, which the administration has been receiving and accepting regularly since 2009. “This is a clear case of department’s incompetence and their attempt to deflect everything on Godrej and its original land owners,” he added.

“If the offices are sealed even for a day, it has the potential to vitiate a very congenital international investment atmosphere .Companies like McDonald’s and Domino’s back-office operations shall be instantly hit. Wouldn’t it affect the FDI investment in the State,” he concluded.

Buck stops where?

The environment clearance is applied by the project proponent, which is Godrej in this case, so the firm got the certificate from the environment department.

Meanwhile, the Estate Office records show owners of the land as the owners of the plot, hence they got the the show cause notice. A senior official said that landowners have to be sent notices since their rights will get affected if occupation certificate is revoked after hearing.

Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner cum Estate officer Vinay Pratap Singh said that notice was issued regarding revocation of Occupation Certificate and another date of hearing is scheduled. “We have held the first hearing. The next hearing is scheduled on August 24,” Singh said.

Godrej’s claim

In an official statement to The Indian Express, Godrej stated that as responsible developers, it always follow prescribed guidelines for development and that the EC was granted prior to the development of the project by the authorities under the then applicable norms. “The occupation certificate and consent to operate were also granted in 2015 by the competent authorities. We are confident of our compliances and are in engagement with the relevant authorities to address this matter appropriately. We have also replied to the show cause notice relating to wildlife clearance,” the reply added.