NGT order on construction ban in Shimla has authorities in a dilemma

The NGT  had observed that constructions in Shimla needed to be stopped since it had exceeded the carrying capacity of the town, which falls in the seismic zone. (Express photo)

The first meeting of a committee setup to chart a roadmap to enforce the National Green Tribunal’s order relating to a construction ban in Shimla’s green belt and core areas failed to reach any consensus on Monday. The panel will hold another meeting on Tuesday to finalise a draft paper proposing legal and administrative route map in the wake of the NGT’s orders, which also proposes a stiff penalty for violations in Himachal Pradesh’s capital.

The committee was set up after state chief secretary V C Pharka held consultations with top officials, including additional chief secretary (urban development) and principal secretary (environment) Tarun Kapoor to discuss the strategy to enforce the ban and regulate future constructions in non-core areas.

Principal secretary (law) Baldev Singh, who chaired the meeting, asked the administrative departments, including Town and Country Planning (TCP) and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) to come out with proposals to counter the teething problems that the authorities might face in enforcing the NGT orders.

Government insiders said the officials were of the view that some of the prohibitions and new regulations imposed by the NGT ran almost contradictory to the TCP Act. The immediate fall out of the ban will be on the proposed ‘Smart City’ project for Shimla, which is seen as a means to transform the town’s future in terms of civic amenities, traffic mobility, sewerage, water supply and solid waste management.

“Leave aside the impact on Smart City project. There will be no new constructions in the non-core areas or localities too – which doesn’t fall in the green belt. The government departments will not be able to do any new project in the town and its peripheral areas,” said a senior official.

The green court has ordered that future constructions in the non-core areas and those beyond the green belt will not exceed two storeys and an attic. The TCP Act, however, has different provisions. Now, the question is whether to follow the TCP act – a legislation which has not been declared null and void, or NGT orders?

“It’s a big dilemma. Further, the NGT has set up two supervisory and regulatory bodies to oversee the constructions. The TCP Act and Municipal Corporation Act doesn’t have any such inbuilt regulatory mechanism,” said an official of Shimla municipal corporation.

The officials said though the committee set up by the chief secretary was free to take a call on whether to seek a review of the NGT order or implement the judgment, a final decision would be taken only after the formation of the new government. Earlier, all the elected councillors of the BJP, Congress and Left had adopted a resolution, asking the state government to file a review petition against the NGT orders. Shimla-based Nagrik Sabha — a left-backed body had also threatened to launch an agitation.

The NGT, in its 145-page order passed on a petition filed by Yogendra Mohan Sengupta, a citizen, had observed that constructions in Shimla needed to be stopped since it had exceeded the carrying capacity of the town, which falls in the seismic zone. Setting out 29 guidelines, the NGT said unauthorised structures, for which no plans were submitted for approval or NOC granted, falling in areas beyond the core and forest area should not be regularised or compounded.

However, where plans have been submitted and the construction work have been completed prior to the judgment, an environmental compensation (Rs 5,000 per sq ft in case of exclusive self-occupied residential construction and Rs. 10,000 per square feet for commercial or residential-cum-commercial buildings) would have to be paid, the NGT ruled.