HC scraps Doon Master Plan

The Uttarakhand High Court today scrapped the Master Planfor Dehradun, directing the authorities concerned to prepare a fresh one within eight weeks and send it to the Centre for approval.

The court directed that all tea gardens that were put to other uses in the area as part of the master plan be restored to their original status and also slapped a fine of Rs five lakh each on officials responsible for preparing the plan.

Hearing a petition challenging the master plan on the grounds that it did not have the approval of the Centre and entaileduse of around 124 acres of tea estate land, justices Rajiv Sharma and Lokpal Singh scrapped it saying a fresh one should be prepared in consonance with the rules.

The court ordered drafting of a new master plan within eight weeks and said it should have the Centre's approval.

Challenging the master plan, Dehradun Resident MC Ghildiyal had in his petition contended that according to UP Urban Planning Development Act 1973 and GOs issued in 2001 the Doon Valley was declared to be eco-sensitive.

Keeping this in view it was provided that before enforcing any project the state government must take the permission of the central government.The petition alleged that such permission has not been taken before formulating the master plan.

It was also alleged in the petition that the plan suffers from many flaws such as making no provision for water exit and using 124 acres of land consisting mainly of tea estates.

The court directed that while preparing the new Master plan, all rules should be taken into consideration.