The Bench was hearing a clutch of petitions filed by the plot owners and residents of the areas who want to reconstruct or make alterations to the existing buildings.
The Delhi High Court has asked the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to take into consideration the recommendations of the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) regarding the Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LZB) Boundary and Development Guidelines which were amended in 2019, including the exclusion of certain areas, and take a decision regarding it within three weeks.
Justice Rekha Palli directed the Centre to particularly take a decision on the Commission’s recommendation to exclude certain areas — Jor Bagh, Golf Links, Sunder Nagar, Bengal Market, Ashoka Road, Mandir Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Sardar Patel Marg and Chanakyapuri — from the LZB.
“While considering the recommendations, the Ministry will keep in mind that the recommendations made in Para 4.2 do not in any manner, seek to interfere with the LBZ guidelines, but only recommend exclusion of some areas having modern constructions from the LBZ, and also take into consideration the fact that the LBZ has its own peculiar bungalow style features,” the court said in its order.
The Bench was hearing a clutch of petitions filed by the plot owners and residents of the areas who want to reconstruct or make alterations to the existing buildings. While setting the date of the next hearing on September 1, the court asked the Union Ministry to file the affidavit informing it about the decision.
The petitioners submitted before the court that the Commission had made the recommendations in 2016 but the same were returned by the Ministry with a direction to make certain corrections. The Commission, in August 2019, prepared its fresh recommendations but were never sent to the ministry.
The Commission before the court argued that the fresh recommendations were not forwarded as the Ministry had already made its stand clear before the court that it was not inclined to make any changes to the LBZ guidelines.
“The Court is unable to appreciate this stand of the Commission. Be that as it may, in view of the admitted position which emerges from the record that these recommendations, prepared by a statutory body, have not even been placed before the Ministry, the Commission is directed to forthwith forward the recommendations prepared by it to the Ministry,” Justice Palli stated in the order.
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