UNAUTHORIZED DEVELOPMENTSSUPREME COURT VERDICT AND ITS IMPACT

It has become a practice that the Governments in most of the States continuously regularize the unauthorized colonies for political gratification and/or for enriching the State Coffers. Recently the Chief Minister of Madyapradesh announced that all the 2500 unauthorized colonies built between December 2016 to December 2022 will be made legal with 20% Development fee, but the fee is exempted for people belonging to weaker sections! In the meantime, the Supreme Court (CIVIL APPEAL NO. 14604 OF 2024) headed by Jus. JB Pardiwala and Jus. R.Mahadevan gave a befitting ruling showcasing Zero Tolerance for Unauthorized developments. The verdict has far-reaching implications for property buyers, real estate developers, and Administrative authorities across all the States. The ruling cautions the authorities concerned against arbitrary regularisation of illegal construction by way of compounding and otherwise. How this Supreme Court ruling will  be implemented has to be seen. It has to be seen as to whether this verdict applies to the Unauthorized Developments beyond Local Planning Areas (LPA’s), which obviously doesn’t have a Statutory Regional plan in the entire State. It’s irony that Bengaluru and almost 160 plus Urban Local Bodies in Karnataka doesn’t have the Master Plans. Will the Administration camouflage the rulings in the guise of new laws and plans? The Supreme Court Verdict cited the Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority vs. Maradu Municipality case in which the High Court of Kerala upheld the Environment (Protection) Act and reiterated that illegal and unauthorised constructions put up with brazen immunity, cannot be permitted to remain, though it was It is submitted that a world class resort has been put up which will promote tourism in a State like Kerala which does not have any industries as such and where tourism has immense potential and jobs will be created. Some of the extracts of the rulings are herewith: “.....the Supreme Court of India unequivocally declared that such illegal structures cannot be regularized under any pretext...” “........the State Governments often seek to enrich themselves through the process of regularization by condoning/ratifying the violations and illegalities. The State is unmindful that this gain is insignificant compared to the long-term damage it causes to the orderly urban development and irreversible adverse impact on the environment. Hence, regularization schemes must be brought out only in exceptional circumstances and as a onetime measure for residential houses after a detailed survey and considering the nature of land, fertility, usage, impact on the environment, availability and distribution of resources, proximity to water bodies/rivers and larger public interest.....” “If the officials are let scot-free, they will be emboldened and would continue to turn a nelson’s eye to all the illegalities resulting in derailment of all planned projects and pollution, disorderly traffic, security risks, etc. Appropriate criminal as well asdepartmental action shall be taken against the erring officials / persons concerned in line with the order of the High Court”

CASE STUDY: KARNATAKA

Unuthorized Colonies have become the inherent part of almost every City in many State. Almost 30% of the Built-up- Area of most of the Cities in the State are Unauthorized. It is a simply a monitoring failure showcasing the overall Institutional weakness! The algorithm for the overall development for any city gets totally disturbed due to unauthorized colonies and the coherence for the sustainable development of a city is lost. These are some of the layout plans approved by the city level administrators, Taluk Panchayath Executive Officers (EO), Gram Panchayath secretaries, Junior Engineers of Rural Development and Panchayath Raj (RDPR) Department and not by the Town Planner. It is seen that they have approved plans with lower roadwidths, skewed roads, telescopic roads ( varying road widths), skewed sites, no parks or community amenities and most importantly, without any emphasis on natural drains and connectivity the layout’s surrounding areas. However, the loss of parks, open spaces, natural drains, inappropriateroad hierarchy, loss of infrastructure connectivity, etc.,

cannot be revived by just by Charging penalty or Cess for regularizingthe unauthorized colonies. Efforts should be made to regenerate and revive the quality of life in unauthorized colonies through Conservatory Surgery and town planning schemes.

ZERO TOLERANCE AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED COLONY

The objective of the State Government is to ensures Zero Tolerance on Unauthorized Colonies. For that, every inch of the land in the State should come under Planning regulations, and that is possible only if all the areas comes under the Statutory Planning jurisdiction. Hence, Statutory Plans and Development Models need to be in place for all the areas. To achieve this, the following statutory plans need to be prepared: 1. Master Plans for all Cities, Towns/ Urban Local Bodies (As per KTCP Act, 1961) 2. Statutory Regional Plans for all the Regions/ Districts (To be added as an amendment in KTCP Act, 1961)

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING

It is observed that many unauthorized colonies crop up outside the Local Planning Area- especially in the City’s fringerural area . 1 Establish District Task Force in line with BBMP/ BMRDA TASK FORCE for all Districts of the State 2. Establish a Task Force in RDPR / REVENUE Department - with a position of Additional Director of Town Planning (VIGILANCE)

UNAUTHORIZED COLONIES

Unauthorized colonize have sub-standard roads (less than 30 feet roads) with no connectivity and no green/ park space, no road hierarchy and no proper connectivity to city level infrastructure. Every unauthorized colony is a burden on the City to an extent of 10% of Parks and 5% of Civic Amenity. Every Unauthorized colony devoid Government of approximately Rs. 1 Crore/ Acre (in case of Bengaluru) in-terms of tax avoidance. Regularization of these colonies are carried out by levying penalty, lake cess, and many other surcharges.  Regularization without revamping these colonies is  fruitless, since the Municipal/ Local body uses the funds for the City Development and not for revamping of the Unauthorized colony. Efforts should be made by the  State Government to Re-plan and Revamp the layout in-terms of Connectivity to the main city and making up  or the Green (Parks) loss.  The following measures could be adopted;

1. Establish Unauthorized Colonies Cell under the Ministry of Urban Development - To ASSESS, AUDIT, RE-PLAN and to come out with detailed Projects to make over the losses incurred due to such Unauthorized  Clonies.

2. Conservatory Surgery Principle should be applied to revamp the unauthorised colony- wherever possible.

3. Regularization of Unauthorized Sites/ Colonies should be Developer Centric also and not just Site-owner Centric. Calling applications only owners of Unauthorized sites should be given up and the Developer of that layout should be made equally responsible. The Developer of UA Colony too is a main culprit!

4. Apart from the funds collected as penalty, further a new cess viz, the External Development and Conservation

Charges (EDCC) should be levied based on the cost of building external infrastructure facilities to connect the City level infrastructure (as per Master Plan- if it is on place) and to create extra Park and Civic Amenity Space that is lost due to that specific Unauthorized Colony.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Accountability to ensure “Zero Tolerance” for Unauthorized colonies should be vested on the respective Task Forces and Vigilance Officers! They need to be supported by a Control Room with updated remote Sense / Drone Maps to track the changes in spatial pattern and to identify Unauthorized developments.

CONCLUSION

Public awareness could be the key to discourage unauthorized developments. Many developers in smaller towns having experienced great delay in approvals, have resorted to unauthorized development. Unfortunately, in Karnataka the Building Approval software is still having glitches and is not formatted to area-wise bylaws. There is still no online layout approval software and for  change of landuse. Time is the essence for right thing to happen! The SC verdict It sends a strong message that no amount of administrative delay, investment, or influence can legalize what  is fundamentally illegal. By upholding the principles of planned development, the Supreme Court has once again reiterated its   commitment to public welfare and the rule of law.

DISCLAIMER: 

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Courtesy: BV ANAND and  Spade A Spade-2025 FEBRUARUY