PIL seeking ban on registration of unapproved plots in Pondy

A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court, seeking blanket ban on registration of unapproved layouts/plots in Puducherry.
Following a similar PIL the court had, in September, granted a blanket ban on registration of unapproved plots.
According to the PIL, realtors in Puducherry were converting the agricultural lands into plots. Many buildings were constructed on agricultural lands and Coastal Regulatory Zones in violation of provisions of the Pondicherry Town and Country Planning Act.
If it continued, agricultural land would be reduced to 20 per cent within three years resulting in considerable reduction in the production of agricultural products.

It also sought to restrain authorities from granting any layout approval in the agricultural land and granting permission to construct buildings.
Senior counsel for Puducherry government said in view of the observations of the court in similar matters pertaining to Tamil Nadu and The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, a legislation was "already in contemplation to deal with the subject matters sought to be raised in the present petition, for which about two weeks time may be granted."
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R.Mahadevan, ordered notice to the Puducherry government and posted the matter on January 3.