Supreme Court slams NGT for stalling Shimla Development Plan 2041

The Supreme Court on Thursday criticised the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for stalling the implementation of the draft Development Plan 2041 for Shimla by passing stringent directions even as the Himachal Pradesh High Court was seized of the matter [State of Himachal Pradesh and ors v. Yogendra Mohan Sengupta and anr]..A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Aravind Kumar stated that the Tribunal had not acted in consonance with the principles of judicial propriety."The continuation of the proceedings by the NGT during the pendency of the writ petitions before the High Court was not in conformity with the principles of judicial propriety.. the development plan, which has been finalized after taking recourse to the statutory provisions and undergoing the rigors thereto, cannot be stalled in entirety thereby putting the entire developmental activities to a standstill," the judgment stated..The Court was hearing the Himachal Pradesh government's appeals against NGT orders that had banned all kinds of construction activities in the ecologically sensitive areas of Shimla.In an order passed in November 2017, the Tribunal had called for the finalisation of a new development plan. Subsequently, its orders set up committees to oversee the implementation of its directions.The draft development plan for 22,450 hectares of Shimla Planning Area which was finalized by a notification dated April 16, 2022, came to be stayed by the NGT in May 2022. The State approached the High Court in appeal against this interim order.While the matter was pending before the High Court, the NGT passed a final order in October 2022 holding that the draft development plan, being in conflict with its order, was illegal and could not be given effect to..The Court found that the NGT had transgressed its limitations and tried to encroach upon the field of the executive."When the TCP Act empowers the State Government and the Director to exercise the powers to enact a piece of delegated legislation, the NGT could not have imposed fetters on such powers and directed it to exercise its powers in a particular manner.".While holding that both the NGT orders were not tenable in law, the top court stated that the development plan was drafted in full compliance with the Himachal Pradesh Town & Country Planning Act (TCP Act), 1977."We, however, clarify that we have not considered the development plan in minute details. Upon its prima facie consideration, we have come to a view that there are sufficient safeguards to balance the need for development while taking care of and addressing the environmental and ecological concerns," the judgment stated..The appeals were allowed and the NGT's orders quashed and set aside.The Himachal Pradesh government and its instrumentalities were allowed to proceed with the implementation of the development plan as published in June 2023..Senior Advocates Anup Rattan and Vinay Kuthalia with Advocates Puneet Rajta, Joydip Pati, Rishi Malhotra and Himanshu Tyagi appeared for the State of Himachal Pradesh.Senior Advocates Sanjay Parikh, Rajive Bhalla and PV Surendranath appeared for the applicants before the NGT..[Read Judgment]