We are creating organised urban slums: Punjab & Haryana HC on faulty town planning

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday remarked that authorities were creating "organised urban slums" in the country by regularising illegal constructions and allowing additional floor area for building constructions on the payment of charges.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor made the observation while questioning the concept of purchasable floor area ratio (FAR) in Haryana.

Purchasable FAR is the extra floor area that a developer or property owner in Haryana can build by paying an additional fee to the government, over and above the normal FAR permitted under building regulations.

The Court was hearing a batch of petitions related to alleged illegal constructions in DLF City, Gurugram.

It noted that since governments regularly increase the FAR, townships were getting converted into slums. It added that the sole objective seems to be the generation of some revenue.

"How by paying, you can relax the norms? ... Some have raised a construction even without getting the plan sanctioned. Do regularise, but please permit only such constructions which are otherwise consistent with the building by-laws. Not beyond that. This purchasable (FAR) concept virtually destroys your entire concept of urban township. It is something like this 'pay and commit offence,'" the Court said.

The Bench said it will examine these issues in its judgment.

In February 2025, the High Court had ordered authorities in Haryana to take action against about 4,000 unauthorised constructions in DLF City, Gurugram, within two months.

The Court had found the constructions to be in clear violation of the Zoning Plan, Buildings Bye Laws and Haryana Building Code.

The order was passed on petitions moved by DLF City Residents Welfare Association and DLF-3 Voice in 2021, seeking action in furtherance of a 2018 Action Taken Report on complaints against the unauthorised constructions.

However, the ruling was set aside by Supreme Court in October 2025 which asked the high court to re-hear the matter after giving persons going to be affected by it decision an opportunity to be heard.

Today, the High Court heard detailed submissions in the case for over two hours.

The Court observed that roads and the initial planning of a township are usually conceptualised while considering a set of particular norms. It went on to flag the issues that arise when constructions are permitted to expand beyond the planned norms.

"When you permit it and allow four floors to come... because land is getting expensive and nobody wants to leave an inch of this land. When you have four dwelling units and there are four families... every family would be having one car... so much of crime has increased in the society because of that. Relationships between neighbours have strained, everybody wants to park his car and doesn't want anybody else to park. These are the stark realities," it observed.

The Court added that, in contrast, Chandigarh city has survived these problems only because the authorities are following building norms. It said when Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier designed Chandigarh, he kept road width wider even if the pathways were then created for lesser number of people.

However, the roads built now are much narrower, the Court said.

"Most of the townships have failed to serve the purpose for which they were created," the Court went on to note.

The Court also observed that nowadays, the situation is such that people have one plan for getting a map sanctioned and another for the regularisation of illegalities.

"They have everything in mind. To what extent we can go," it said.

The arguments will continue on Friday.

Senior Advocate Amit Jhanji represented the petitioners.

Additional Advocate General Ankur Mittal appeared for State of Haryana.

Senior Advocate Aashish Chopra also appeared in the matter.