The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (TTCP) Act, 1971 does not empower the State government to prevent private land owners from constructing buildings on their immovable properties by declaring them to be under ‘no development zones.’ The government could only acquire such lands if they were required for any public purpose, such as maintaining the catchment area of a lake, the Madras High Court has ruled.
Justices S.S. Sundar and N. Senthilkumar held so while declaring as unconstitutional and illegal the classification of 13,720 hectares of land spread over 27 villages near Red Hills lake as a ‘catchment area’ and therefore a ‘no development zone’ under the second master plan developed for Chennai Metropolitan area in 2008. They said, the government could not compel the landowners to do only agriculture on those lands.
Disposing of a couple of writ petitions, the Bench pointed out that the TTCP Act does not contain any specific provision empowering the government to prohibit development on private lands without acquiring them on payment of compensation. Though the State argued that it could impose such prohibition in exercise of its police power, the Bench said: “The source of power to legislate on town planning, is not a police power.”
