HC seeks documents to show Centre's reluctance on master plan

HC seeks documents to show Centre's reluctance on master plan
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Nov 22: The Delhi High Court today asked a petitioner to place before it relevant documents to show that the Centre was reluctant to modify Delhi's master plan-2001 drawn by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on the basis of a survey conducted last year.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D K Jain directed petitioner's counsel to place before it any letter or communication issued by any authority of the Union Government to show that it was not inclined to amend the master plan.

The petitioner was given time till December six to place the documents before the court after his counsel Sugariv Dubey claimed that Union Urban Development Minister Jagmohan had recently said the master plan would not be modified.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Rakesh Kumar, who is running a wire drawing business in a residential colony here, said to protect the interests of millions of people engaged in about one lakh "kutir udyogs" (small scale domestic industrial units), there was immediate need to amend the plan.

Seeking direction to the Centre to this effect, Dubey said the draft master plan notified by the Delhi Government had itself spelt out certain provisions for such an amendment if required at the finalisation stage.

However, Jagmohan in a statement in Rajya Sabha today, said the Centre would amend the master plan, if necessary, to acquire more land for relocation of the industries.

Subject to observance of pollution safeguards, measures would be taken to redefine household industries in terms of the recommendations by a committee, he said.

The petitioner also sought the court's direction to the Centre and the Delhi Government to appoint a joint committee of experts to suggest the modifications in the master plan.

The PIL said the growing unemployment in Delhi could not be tackled unless some changes were made in the plan as the "kutir udyogs" would be employying about 49 lakh people by next year. This estimate was based on the figures mentioned in the plan itsself, the peition said.

"The land use in the master plan has to be reconsidered and the previous land use plan modified on the basis of the population and unauthorised growth of colonies," it said adding the government had to take into account "mixed" use of land for residential and non-polluting small scale units.

The government has to frame rules to regulate the mixed use of land to ensure that no such industrial units were allowed to operate in the mixed area which did not fall within the definition of "kutir udyog" and non-polluting units.

The industrial units running in the non-confirming area like unauthorised colonies would also have to be accommodated judiciously and alternative site be provided to them because these colonies had come up only due to various faults in the earlier master plans, the PIL said.

The Centre and the state governments could not ignore the fact that more than half of the capital's population today was living in unauthorised colonies and nearly 40 lakh people were living in east Delhi alone, where maximum illegal localities had come up since 1977.