Town Planning Department Official gets Apex Court temporary relief

[dheerajjain]

HIndustan Times, Chandigarh, July 31, 12

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-new ... 05610.aspx

A top government official who has been held guilty of violating a high court ruling by allowing construction of residential complexes in Gurgaon got a temporary relief on Monday from the Supreme Court.

TC Gupta, director general of the town and country planning department, was held guilty by the Punjab and Haryana high court on July 23 for issuing license to the developer, Anant Raj Industries, for construction of housing colonies in Sector 63A of Gurgaon.

The high court, which had banned construction in the area and asked the state government to maintain status quo, was to pronounce the quantum of sentence for Gupta on Monday. But the state government counsel informed the high court that Gupta had approached the Supreme Court and it has already stayed the high court's July 23 order.

The contempt petition was filed against Gupta by Bimal Kumar Dutta, a resident of Faridabad. The high court had in August last year directed the Haryana government to maintain status quo on "allotment" and implementation of the final development plan of Gurgaon-Manesar urban complex 2025. The state government had announced the master plan in May last year.

The petitioner had informed the court that despite court's orders, the authorities concerned had granted licenses to the private developer for setting up residential colonies in Sector-63A.