E-Paper
Meetings on excluding Sunder Nagar, Bengali Market from LBZ in Delhi inconclusive
The Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) on Thursday told the Delhi high court hat the meetings were held after the Centre on October 5 informed the court that it has rejected the panel’s recommendation to exclude 8 areas from the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ)
The Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) on Thursday told the Delhi high court that two meetings held to review the Centre’s decision to reject the panel’s recommendation to exclude eight city neighbourhoods from the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone or LBZ were inconclusive.
The DUAC told Justice Rekha Palli that the meetings were held after the Centre on October 5 informed the court that it has rejected the panel’s recommendation to exclude parts of Jor Bagh, Golf Links, Sunder Nagar, Bengali Market, Mandir Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Sardar Patel Marg and Chanakyapuri from the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone.
The commission said even after the discussion, the matter remained inconclusive and sought more time before any final decision can be taken with respect to the queries raised by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs. He, however, was unable to tell the next date when the commission would next sit to consider the matter.
The court, while observing that such conduct is not appreciated, granted two weeks to DUAC for filing an affidavit categorically stating its stand as to whether it would re-consider the report in any manner and if yes, then on what grounds.
“Accordingly, while adjourning the matter, the court on the next date would consider whether any interim orders are required to be passed..,” the judge said in an oral order.
Spread over an area of over 28 sq km, the LBZ is governed by a strict building law that does not allow construction of basements and caps the number of floors. If these eight areas will be excluded from the zone, it would have meant that property owners there could undertake construction and alterations as per the Delhi Master Plan provisions. However, in LBZ This meant development in these colonies could happen as per the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 (MPD-2021) that allows FAR of up to 300 depending on plot size. However, as per the existing LBZ guidelines, a house owner is allowed the same FAR as the existing house. Due to this the FAR of each different plots in the same locality is different.
Several plot owners and residents of Sunder Nagar, Golf Links, Bengali Market, and Panchsheel Marg, who want to reconstruct, or alter existing buildings, have approached the high court seeking a direction to the ministry of housing and urban affairs to implement the recommendations made by DUAC in 2019.
The petitioners said the commission had recommended exclusion of these eight areas from the LBZ, and shrinking the zone by at least 5 square kilometres -- from the current 28 sqkm to 23 sqkm.
In the petition concerning the Bengali Market area, the petitioner defended the exclusion on the ground that the area comprised small residential plots of land measuring 212 square yards to 500 square yards and the developed properties could not be considered as ‘’bungalows’’ as is commonly understood, and as also described in the report submitted by DUAC.
In August, the court directed the ministry to decide on the recommendations made by DUAC within three weeks, while bearing in mind the peculiar bungalow style features of the zone and the fact that the recommendations did not seek to interfere with the LBZ guidelines but only suggested the exclusion of some areas that have modern constructions.
The matter will now be heard on November 17.
The DUAC, a constitutional body under the central government, advises the Centre in matters of preserving, developing and maintaining the aesthetic quality of urban and environmental design within Delhi, and guide any local body with respect to any development proposal which effects or is likely to affect the skyline or the aesthetic quality of surroundings.
