Supreme Court allows publication of Shimla Development Plan

Shimla, May 8

In what can be termed as a big relief to the Himachal Government, the Supreme Court has allowed the publication of the final Shimla Development Plan (SDP) after considering the 97 objections received against the draft plan.

Supreme court clarifies

• The SC, however, clarified that after the final development plan is published, it would not be given effect for a period of one month from the date of its publication.
• The court further directed that no construction should be permitted on the basis of the draft development plan.

The Supreme Court, in its order dated May 3, has directed the state government to consider the objections to the Draft Shimla Development Plan (DSDP), decide on them and publish the final development plan after considering the objections, within a period of six weeks from May 3, 2023. The matter will come up for next hearing on July 12, 2023.

The case had come up for hearing before the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sanjay Karol on May 3. The Himachal Government had informed the court that a total of 97 objections had been received to the draft SDP.

“In light of the facts and circumstances of these cases, we find that it will be appropriate that the state government decides the objections received to the draft development plan and after considering the same issue a final development plan,” the court observed.

The SC, however, clarified that after the final development plan is published, it would not be given effect for a period of one month from the date of its publication. The court further directed that no construction should be permitted on the basis of the draft development plan.

With the petitioners pointing out that certain constructions were being carried out without a sanctioned plan, the court observed that indisputably, such a construction would be an unauthorized construction. “We grant liberty to the applicants to take recourse to the remedy available under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and bring unauthorised constructions to the notice of the High Court,” the court observed.

The Himachal Government had pleaded that on account of the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the final development plan which is presently at the stage of ‘draft notification’ could not be published. The NGT had on May 12, 2022 restrained the state government from proceeding further with regard to the Shimla Draft DP while observing that the Himachal Government was trying to assume jurisdiction of appellate authority over the NGT, in breach of law, not expected from a lawful government.