High Court segregates Camelot case from UT master plan petition

The stay on construction for the project will remain operative till further orders. The public interest litigation (PIL) arising out of a suo motu notice taken on the basis of a news item published by Newsline,has been posted for resumed hearing on July 26.

On the other hand,on the request of UT Administration,the High Court extended the date for completion of the master plan for the city till August 31. Appearing on behalf of the UT Administration,its senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal contended that the Administration is in the process of completing the UT master plan and has done a substantial amount of work in this regard.

Kaushal said that a little more work requires to be done for completion. Accepting the request,the High Court adjourned the case to September.

On November 9,2010,Justice Ajay Tewari had taken suo motu notice of a report published by Newsline,which had highlighted how the new constructions coming in the vicinity of Chandigarh would obstruct the hill view and pose a threat to city’s heritage.

Defending the Tata Camelot project,Tata Housing Development Company today filed its response in the Court. The company submitted that “neither does the project fall in the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake nor does it violates Punjab’s New (Periphery) Control Act.

The company maintained that the Nagar Panchayat Naya Gaon Master Plan 2021 shows the Project land to be ‘Residential’ and falls outside the ‘Forest Zone’ demarcated in the Master Plan. “The Project does not in any manner form a part of the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and the land on which it was proposed has never been demarcated as an eco-sensitive zone or a buffer zone,” reads the reply.

The company further stated that “the master plan does not show the project land to be situated in the Sukhna Lake Catchment Area. The catchment area of the Sukhna Lake is not shown in the Master Plan. This is for the simple reason that no part of the Sukhna Lake Catchment Area falls within the State of Punjab”.

Rejecting the accusation that the project would form a “concrete barrier” which would obstruct the view of the Shivalik Hills,the company submitted that the fears were misplaced and based on the wrong premise that the entire 53 acres of project land would be constructed area.

“The total number of buildings proposed to be constructed in the Project are only 19 towers/ blocks,ranging from 7 storeys to 28 storeys with a maximum height of 92 meters,having wide distances between the towers ranging from 100 feet to 130 feet. In contrast,the height of the backdrop Shivalik Range is 1,938 meters. The Project under no circumstances will cause any visual obstruction. In any event,the constructed area of the Project will only be 13 per cent with wide openings between the towers ranging from 100 feet to 130 feet and the distance between the Project and the Capitol Complex is nearly 1.9 kilometers,” the company submitted.