Lawfully yours: By Retd Justice K Chandru

Regularising 30-year-old plan deviations? Better not to wake up a sleeping dog now

Q.A friend of mine lives in an apartment consisting of about 10 owners. This apartment is about 30 years old but nicely maintained. When he constructed the apartment, the builder completed it with some deviations in the plan. Can such deviations be regularised now for good order's sake, since they do not want:

a/ Any of the current owners to create any problem (and)

b/ They also do not want to rebuild the same now.

If regularisation is possible, whom should they approach?

-- VS Narayanaswamy, T Nagar

A.The power of the government to exempt illegal construction under section 113. & 113-A of the Town and Country Planning Act has been struck down by the Madras High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court. Since the building is 30 years old, when all the flat owners go for demolition and reconstruction, the problem can be solved.

Don't wake up the sleeping dog. If you go for regularisation of the plan only for your flat, the same thing cannot be done since the original building plan is composite and for that, all persons who have a share in the UDS have to apply. If they reject your request for regularisation, you will have to file an appeal to the government before the High Court. Instead, you can keep silent and when the problem crops up can find a solution. The best remedy for avoiding complaints is 'Love thy Neighbour'.

Gangs behind honey traps capitalising on victims' shame, anxiety, stigma

Q.There has been a marked increase in cases of honey trap which involves the use of seduction and manipulation to exploit unsuspecting individuals for personal gains to extract money. In most cases, the perpetrator poses as a potential romantic partner and initiates contact with the target through social media or dating platforms. Is there anything a victim can do to save him/her from extortion or take the perpetrator to book?

-- Perumal, Mahabalipuram

A.The persons who get cheated by honey traps never want to go to the police due to shame and public exposure. If only they give a complaint to the Crime Branch police, they are likely to get relief and at least one criminal gang doing this business can be put behind bars. The more the people keep quiet and suffer in silence the likelihood of such traps getting increased is also greater.