HP HC caps building height in Barog Hills, summons TCP secretary over delay in regional plans

Shimla: Raising concerns over unregulated construction activities in ecologically fragile hills, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the state govt to ensure that no building in the Barog Hills area of Solan district exceeds six floors. The high court has also summoned the secretary of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department to explain why its directions regarding preparation of the regional and sectoral plans in the state have not been complied with for more than three years.The directions came from a division bench comprising chief justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi during the resumed hearing of a batch of public interest litigations concerning large-scale and allegedly unregulated construction activities in Barog area of Solan district, especially Barog Hills facing Kumarhatti.The petitions highlight the rapid mushrooming of multistoreyed buildings along a six-kilometre stretch between Kheel Jhalsi and Kainthari, including Koron village.The high court earlier observed in 2022 that the absence of proper regulations led to indiscriminate and haphazard construction in the hill region. The bench then noted that many buildings appeared to have been constructed by cutting and damaging ecologically fragile hills, posing a serious threat to the environment as well as human life and property.During the latest hearing, the high court expressed strong displeasure over the continued non-compliance with its earlier directions issued on Jan 13, 2023, regarding preparation and publication of regional and sectoral plans after notification of development plans. Despite repeated opportunities and extensions granted to the state govt, progress remained unsatisfactory.The court referred to several previous orders noting delays in preparation of regional plans for districts such as Shimla, Kangra and Kullu, despite assurances by the govt that funds amounting to Rs 4.18 crore had been earmarked for the purpose. The bench also noted that a notification issued in Nov 2024 proposing enhancement of floor area ratio and increasing permissible building height for special commercial and tourism projects from 13 to 20 storeys earlier had been kept in abeyance.The bench further observed that a status report filed by the TCP department revealed that 15 high-rise buildings were coming up in the Barog Hills area. While two projects had been approved under existing norms to have height of 21 metres, 13 were constructed prior to the enforcement of the 1977 Act and one building was found to have additional unauthorised construction."The permission for the project in favour of M/s S.A. Hospitality Services Private Limited would go on to show that there are as many as six blocks which are going to be comprising four- to seven-storeyed buildings, and the drawings were duly signed by the concerned panchayat, which would go on to show that this is an abject surrender on behalf of the state of the responsibilities of the 1977 Act," underlined the bench. Expressing concern over safety in the hill state, the bench emphasised that panchayat approvals alone could not ensure compliance with structural stability requirements under Section 31-A of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977. The matter has now been listed for further hearing on May 25. MSID: 131063553 413 |