HC strikes down HP Town and Country Planning Regularisation Amendment Act, 2016

In a major embarrassment to the state government, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has struck down the HP Town and Country Planning Regularisation Amendment Act, 2016, allowing regularisation of unauthorised structures — both commercial and residential. It observed that Section 30-B of the amending Act gave “unfettered power” to the government to regularise all illegal constructions carried out either without any sanction or in excess of the compoundable limits. Coming down heavily on the state, the court observed that despite the mechanism for enforcement of the three enactments in place, successive governments not only repeatedly allowed rampant growth of concrete jungle but “relentlessly pursued the policy of appeasement by promoting and propagating dishonesty, for regulating unauthorised possession (Encroachment Policy) or unauthorised construction (Retention Policy).”

Main reasons:

• Excessive construction in an unplanned manner only results into depletion of source of civic amenities, burdening the stakeholders for providing the same, beyond their limited resources and capacities.
• The effect of such regularisation on safety, in terms of fire and traffic remains ignored. The fragile ecology of the state warrants demolition of all illegal constructions, which are beyond the planning and permissible limits.

Background:
On August 28, 2016, the Assembly had given its nod to the HP Town and Country Planning (HPTCP Amendment) Bill, 2016, allowing public to regularise their buildings. The Act included provisions to regularise all construction on an “as is where is” basis, but gave no concession to unsafe buildings. The High Court had stayed the implementation of the Act in April 2017.

By: Dr. Vivek Rana