Recently, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has instructed the state government's counsel to provide details explaining why regional plans for several districts, including Shimla, have remained in the proposal stage.

A Division Bench led by Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua issued the order in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Kusum Bali, which brought attention to the unregulated and unplanned construction in mountainous regions, particularly in the environmentally delicate Barog zone.

While perusing the status report filed by the government, the court observed that “we are distressed to note that only draft regional plans for Solan and Lahaul and Spiti regions have been submitted by consultants and the state is still considering the proposal to prepare the regional plans for Shimla, Kangra and Kullu.”

Earlier, the court had instructed the Director of Town and Country Planning to initiate actions towards creating and releasing preliminary regional plans for all districts. This involved conducting comprehensive surveys of the areas and developing maps outlining the current land usage.

The court had specifically instructed that the regional plans should include provisions for "No Development Zones" aimed at conserving and safeguarding areas in their natural state, especially hilly terrains. The court scheduled the next hearing on January 4 to continue addressing this matter.