Plea in HC against Centre's transit oriented development policy

A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court to challenge the Centre's decision to modify the master plan 2021 by a new Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy, saying it allegedly involves excessive construction which would lead to loss of green cover and increase air pollution in the national capital.

The petition came up for hearing on Friday before Justice Asha Menon, who said there was no urgency in the matter as the TOD policy was notified in December last year and the petitioner approached the court now.

The judge said the matter be listed for hearing before the appropriate bench after the lockdown is eased/lifted and normal court proceedings resume.

The plea has been moved by Rajeev Suri, who works on urban and environmental issues and has also challenged the Centre's ambitious Central Vista project.

The TOD policy "contemplates densification of areas contiguous to the metro line and other Mass Rapid Transport System", the petition filed through advocate Shikhil Suri has said.

It "promotes concepts such as non-mechanized mobility, (cycling, walking) walk to work, pedestrianization, and multi-modal transportation hubs", the plea has said.

However, the objective of the new policy is "to gain control over government lands by change of land use and developing them by densification; i.e. vastly increased Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and a vastly increased commercial component on the built up area", the petition has said, seeking the quashing of the December 24 notification issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.