No highrises or multi-dwelling units will be allowed in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, emphasising the need to keep it a low-density, bungalow area.
The apex court overturned an earlier judgment of the Delhi High Court which had directed the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to clear the plans for two-and-a-half-storey buildings in the zone’s Amrita Shergill Marg. These would have been multi-dwelling units or those bungalows that house more than one family.
The NDMC as well as the Union government had then moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s verdict, appealing that it violated the guidelines that shape construction in this bungalow zone. These guidelines were framed on February 8, 1988.
The apex court’s Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal, observed: “The court will have to take notice of public interest sought to be protected by the guidelines because if the guidelines had not been scrupulously followed... the LBZ area of Delhi would never have remained the bungalow area as visualised in the Masterplan... within no time skyscrapers would have come up... seriously affecting the low-density character of the area.”
The Bench also approved two main clauses in the LBZ guidelines — the height of the existing main bungalow on a plot will have to be the maximum height permissible for a reconstructed bungalow and that construction of a basement will not be allowed in residential plots till detailed development norms for the area were conceived.
The LBZ guidelines also say if a bungalow is to be constructed on a vacant plot here, it can only be as high as the lowest bungalow on nearby plots.
In this particular case, the NDMC and other appellate authorities had refused to sanction plans for the houses on Amrita Shergill Marg, maintaining they did not conform to the original guidelines. When the matter went to the High Court, it noted on May 19, 2004, that the NDMC’s objections were “illegal and without jurisdiction” and also directed the NDMC to endorse the plans.
However, the apex court would not hear of it. It observed on Thursday that the Prime Minister’s Office had also turned down any proposal to relax the LBZ guidelines.
Though the builders argued these guidelines did not have any legal or statutory foundation, the Supreme Court held that they had been legally strengthened after they were incorporated in the Zonal Development Plan on October 1, 1999.
The Bench concluded the builders could construct bungalows on their plots according to the guidelines, but they could certainly not make them multi-dwelling units.
In this case, the proposal was to build a total of 15 units — one for each family. “That is quite contrary to the guidelines,” the apex court ruled.
The judges also said the builders should refresh their plans and submit them again.