TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACTS- A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE HARYANA DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION OF URBAN AREAS ACT, 1975

     The Department of Town and Country Planning, Haryana is responsible to regulate the development and also to check the haphazard development in and around towns in accordance  with the provisions of following statutes:

     1.     The Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963
   Prevention of unauthorized and haphazard construction and regulation of planned urban development by declaring controlled areas around towns and public institutions                     preparation of their development plans and sectoral plans for planned urban development
2.     The Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975

           To regulate the development of colonies in order to prevent ill-planned and haphazard urbanization in or around the towns

            Prevention of unauthorized constructions and regulation of planned urban development

    The Haryana State acts unlike other state acts runs on a different mechanism and have specific purposes for the development.  In order to involve the private sector in the process of urban development, the Department grants licences to the private colonizers for development of Residential, Commercial, Industrial and IT Park/Cyber Park Colonies in accordance with the provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 and rules framed thereunder.

     An attempt is made to critically review the town and country-planning act for the state of Haryana. For the purpose of critical review a comparative study with the acts of the other states have also been done. Thereafter, conclusions are drawn from the best practices. To understand further about the act, its pros and cons, the article is divided into three parts:
     ·       Analysis of Haryana State Act
     ·       Brief understanding of best practices of Town and Country Planning Acts in India
     ·       Comparative analysis matrix of Town and Country Planning Acts

ANALYSIS OF HARYANA STATE ACT

The document Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 is divided into 2 segments consisting of:

1. The Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 :This segment covers all the sections enacted by the Legislature of State of Haryana in the Twenty-fifth year of the Republic of India (sections 1-25). 

2. The Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Rules, 1976 :To give the acts mentioned in the document, a prospective or retrospective effect, section 24 states the making of rules for carrying out the purposes of the act. The rules are further divided into 4 parts covering different subjects.

As per the preamble, it is an Act

“To regulate the use of land in order to prevent ill planned and haphazard urbanization in or around towns and for development of infrastructure sector and infrastructure projects for the benefit of the State of Haryana and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.”

There are total 43 sections in the Act, covering aspects like licensing, constitution, functions and powers of Board committee, Transferrable development rights, etc.

o   Haryana Infrastructure Development Board

1.                            There is provision to constitute a board to be called the Haryana Infrastructure Development Board consisting of a Chairman  (The Chief Minister of Haryana), a Vice- Chairman (The Chief Secretary to Gov. of Haryana) and six members from Finance, Irrigation, Power, PWD, TNCP, and Transport departments.
2.                               The Board is likely to evolve as a ‘multi-disciplinary Techno-Legal-Financial Institution with professionals drawn from  Administration, Engineering, Town Planning, Legal and Finance cadres.
3.                               The board exercises the power to acquire, hold and dispose off property and to contract, and may by the said name sue or be sued.
4.                                It also have the powers to make Byelaws for efficient administration of board.
5.                             The Board does not play any role in the infrastructure projects undertaken by the Government exclusively through its budgetary provisions. 

o   Regional Planning:

There is no provision to prepare a Regional Development Plan under this Act. In addition, there is no mention of constitution of Regional Planning Authority for preparation of Regional Plan. 

o   City Planning:

1.                           The Act does not provide any details of the planning authority declaring its intention to prepare Development Plan. On the contrary, the Act talks about the external development carried out by the authority and  that the charges are to be paid to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) by the owner in proportion to the tentative rates, within thirty days from the date of grant of license.
2.                               To co-ordinate all efforts of the Government regarding the development and implementation of infrastructure sectors and infrastructure projects for the benefit of State of Haryana, State Infrastructure  Development Board is formed.
3.                                The development plan is prepared under the provisions of the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restrictions of Unregulated Development Rules, 1965.
4.                                 The act does not have any provision regarding delineation of a Development Area or Planning Area. 

o   Infrastructure Development

1.                               The act have well defined provisions for grant, cancellation and renewal of license to the colonizer (private developers involved for development and implementation of infrastructure sectors and infrastructure projects).
2.                                 The act also provide well defined provision for Transferable Development Rights (TDR) Certificate and Purchasable Development Rights (PDR) Certificate for the colonizer.
3.                               In order to carry out its functions consistent with the provisions of this Act, the Board shall advise or recommend to the Government acquisition of land under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for the purposes of infrastructure projects.
4.                                Further, the board established shall ensure efficient administration by making byelaws for the matters like Project Implementation Sub-committee to advise the Board for the efficient discharge of its functions.
5.                               The colonizers are required to pay Scrutiny fees, License fee, conversion charges, Infrastructure Development Charges as per rates prescribed in the Schedule in Rules 1976.
6.                                 Rate of External Development Charges (EDC) are laid down for residential, commercial and Institutional use.
7.                                 The Funds are utilized for stimulating socio-economic growth and development of major infrastructure projects for the benefit of the state of Haryana.
8. In order to leverage the fund available for structuring and implementation of larger infrastructure projects, Haryana Infrastructure Development Board encourages private sector investment in infrastructure projects across all sectors through             innovative development and financial structuring of infrastructure projects for implementation in Public Private-Partnership mode. 

   BEST PRACTICES

   o    The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966

                  i.      The Preamble of this Act is to provide for:
    Planning the development and use of land in Regions established for that purpose and for the constitution of Regional Planning Boards
    Preparation of Development Plans with a view to ensuring that Town Planning Schemes are made in proper manner and their execution is made effective
    Creation of new towns by means of Development Authorities.
    Planning the development and use of land in Regions established for that purpose and for the constitution of Regional Planning Boards
    Preparation of Development Plans with a view to ensuring that Town Planning Schemes are made in proper manner and their execution is made effective
    Creation of new towns by means of Development Authorities.

               ii.    The act shows the perfect co-ordination in planning, implementation and enforcement since these functions are assigned to the Planning Authority. In addition, in case a New Town Development Authority or Special Development Authority is established,          the constitution authority performs all these functions. Regional Planning Board prepares Metropolitan Development Plan for the city (metro) region.

               iii.   The state government constitutes a Regional Planning Board for every established region, carries out survey of the region, and prepares a regional plan with all the contents and procedure of its preparation in the act itself.

                iv.    The planning function in the state is assigned to Planning Authority, including Special Planning Authority and New Town Development Authority. 

         v.    The land reserved for public purpose maybe acquired by the authority after the publication of draft plans, with the help of agreement or by grant of FSI or TDR. The planning authority may, for the       purchase of implementing the proposals in the final      development plan, prepare one or more Town Planning Schemes in consultation with the Director, Town and Country planning.

             vi.    Power of revocation and modification of permission to development, power to stop unauthorized development, penalty for unauthorized development or for use otherwise than in conformity and power for removal of unauthorized development etc are               incorporated in the Act for plan enforcement.

         vii.  Every regional planning board, planning authority shall maintain their own fund for money received through loans, grants, fees or charges and the fund is to be applied to meet the expenditure to  implement the plan. The act also lays down the minimum          and maximum rates of development charges for different land uses.

        viii.  In Maharashtra, Town Planning is a statutory function of all the Municipal Authorities even before the Constitution (74th) Amendment Act.  In view of this, no separate provision was considered necessary by the State Government to amend the 1966 Act,          also satisfies the provisions of the 74^th Amendment Act.

1. o    The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971                 

        i.    The Preamble of the Act is to provide for planning the development and use of rural and urban land in the State. 

     ii.   The act provides for the constitution of Regional Planning area along with the constitution of Tamil Nadu Town & Country Planning Board that shall have powers to guide direct and assist the Planning Authority, advice the government in matters related to  planning and development of land, etc.

      iii. The act also provides for the establishment of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority whose role is to prepare a Masterplan/ Detailed Development Plan/ new town Development Plan for Metropolitan Development area.

     iv.  Plan prepared by the respective authorities, is then, implemented by the Planning authority by provision to purchase or acquire lands (by agreement or under Land Acquisition Act, 1894) under 3 years’ time limit. In addition, plot reconstitution techniques is  applied for preparation and execution of Town planning schemes.

     v.  For plan enforcement,the power to require removal and stop unauthorized development is also given to the Planning authority. Moreover, application is required to be submitted to Local Authority for any development of land in an area other than planning area.

   vi.   The local authority is responsible for collecting development charges for land and levy infrastructure and amenities charges on the institution of use or change of use of land etc. as may be prescribed. In addition, the government can constitute a fund called “State Infrastructure and Amenities Fund” for ensuring sustainable development of urban and rural areas. The money collected in this fund may be given to planning authorities for preparation and execution of Development Plans.

   vii.  Thus, the act represents a perfect co-ordination in planning, implementation and enforcement of Master Plan. The Act provides for resource mobilization for execution of Master plan and detailed development plan.

   COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

         To critically examine the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, the table below shows a comparative analysis matrix of Town and Country Planning acts in the country.

Source: Author generated, with reference to URDPFI guidelines 2014, Volume II A

CONCLUSION

The above comparative matrix, clearly illustrates the major gaps in the act. The major drawback of the act is that it does not give emphasis on regional planning. It does not have provisions for the overall development of a region. In addition, it does not enable state government to constitute Regional Planning Board to prepare Regional plan as seen in the case of Tamil Nadu state. The powers of the State Level Planning Board is limited and the board does not play any role in the infrastructure projects undertaken by the Government exclusively through budgetary provisions.

The act fails to offer provisions for constitution of District Planning Committee and City or Town Planning Committee in affirmation with the seventy fourth Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992. The Mizoram Urban and Regional Development Act makes it mandatory to constitute such committees. Moreover, the act omits the provision with respect to constitution of Metropolitan Development Authority and demarcation of Development area or planning area.
The Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, does not have defined provision for constitution of different planning authority to complete the hierarchy of planning process and the implementation at different level. The act also does not follows the parameters considered in URDPFI guidelines such as Regional Development, Land Acquisition Mechanism, Affirmation with 74^th CAA, institutional setups etc. Including sections which defines the above mentioned drawbacks in the act will help in more organized development of the state at the different level and will help in better implementation of policies.

Town Planning or Development scheme is an important tool to develop land. The development in the state of Haryana is more oriented towards involving the private participation and funding from sources other than those provided by state budget. The act Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Area Act, 1975, permitted private developer to participate in urban development. This public private partnership model of land development (called Joint Development mode) is applicable to all urban areas of the state. Private developer acquire land falling in different potential zones directly from the landowners at negotiated market prices. Private developer then apply to the concerned authority for a license to develop this land as a colony in conformity with the land use. This act well defines the provision for the public private partnership model. The major highlight of the act is that it provides better environment for the private developer to participate in the urban development of the state.