Notification By State Of Gujarat Extending Compliance With General Development Control Regulations Held Ultra Vires By The Supreme Court
Supreme Court today held that the notification passed by State of Gujarat under Section 122 of Gujarat Town Planning & Urban Development Act, 1976, extending compliance with valid Building Use Permission, was ultra vires and devoid of any nexus, as pleaded, with the need to ensure better facilities during COVID.
A Division Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah, while holding the notification beyond statutory powers, said,
“It appears that the notification is ultra vires the provision of Section 122 - there is no nexus with the need to ensure safety and better facilities during COVID - consequently, pending further orders, notification dated July 8, 2021, shall be held in abeyance by State of Gujarat."
By aforementioned notification, the State exempted till 2022, the buildings not having valid BU permission or which were in breach of BU permissions to comply with General Development Control Regulations (GDCR), 2017.
"In the absence of Building Use permission, Fire NOC, All attempts of State will be completely destructive of Urban Planning, against the intention of these laws - The purpose of these laws is to protect citizens, By condoning this we will hamper their interests," the bench while hearing the matter said.
On the last date of hearing, Court asked the Government of Gujarat to place report of the Committee constituted in this regard.
By order dated July 19, 2021, Court issued directions to the State of Gujarat to file a comprehensive statement indicating,
(i) Audits which were conducted in pursuance of the order dated 18 December 2020, and
(ii) The result of the audits specifically in terms of which hospitals were found not to be in compliance with the safety and other norms under the Development Control Regulations.
Court was informed that by a July 8 notification, State Government extended the timeline for meeting compliances under Gujarat Epidemic Diseases Regulations, 2020, which prima facie appeared to be in derogation with Supreme Court directions issued in December 2020.
By the order dated December 18, 2020, three specific directions were issued in regard to the maintenance and audit of fire safety measures in hospitals earmarked for Covid patients:
(i) All States and Union Territories were directed to appoint one nodal officer for each Covid hospital, who was to be made responsible for ensuring compliance of safety measures;
(ii) In each district, the State Government was to constitute a committee to carry on a fire audit of each Covid hospital at least once every month, inform the hospital management of any deficiency and to furnish a report to the government for taking follow up action.
(iii) Covid hospitals who have not obtained NOCs from the fire department were required to apply it immediately. These orders were to be followed for the immediate renewal of the NOCs. In the event that any Covid hospital was found not possessing an NOC including a renewal, appropriate action was directed to be taken by the State.
Case Title: In Re: Proper treatment of COVID 19 Patients and Dignified handling of Dead Bodies in the hospitals