Recently, after considering the 97 objections received against the draft plan, the Supreme Court of India allowed the publication of the final Shimla Development Plan (SDP).

The Court has directed the state government to consider the objections to the Draft Shimla Development Plan (DSDP) and publish the final development plan after considering the objections, within a period of six weeks. 

Supreme Court bench comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sanjay Karol observe -

“In light of the facts and circumstances of these cases, we find that it will be appropriate that the state government decides the objections received to the draft development plan and after considering the same issue a final development plan,” the court observed.

Further, the Court clarified that even after the final development plan is published, it would not be given effect for a period of one month from the date of its publication. The court further directed that no construction should be permitted on the basis of the draft development plan.

With the petitioners pointing out that certain constructions were being carried out without a sanctioned plan, the court observed that indisputably, such a construction would be an unauthorized construction. “We grant liberty to the applicants to take recourse to the remedy available under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and bring unauthorised constructions to the notice of the High Court,” the court observed.

The Himachal Government had pleaded that on account of the directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the final development plan which is presently at the stage of ‘draft notification’ could not be published.