Town planning safeguards and guided discretion upheld under a city development code, with constitutional challenge rejected

The Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954 was examined as an integrated planning code for orderly urban development, not as a set of isolated restrictions. The scheme of survey, draft development plan publication, public objections, expert consideration, State sanction, acquisition machinery for reserved land, and control over development through commencement certificates was found to provide adequate guidance and procedural safeguards. The ten-year period for acquisition was treated as reasonable in light of large-scale town planning and limited municipal resources. On that basis, sections 9 to 13 were held valid, and the challenges based on equality and property rights failed.

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Issues: Whether sections 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954 were unconstitutional for conferring arbitrary and unguided powers and for imposing unreasonable restrictions on property rights and development.

Analysis: The statutory scheme was examined as a whole. The Act required a survey, publication of a draft development plan, invitation of public suggestions, consideration of objections, sanction by the State Government, acquisition machinery for reserved lands, and control over development by means of commencement certificates. The provisions were held to be part of an integrated planning code designed to secure orderly development of a growing city. The existence of a tentative plan, the role of expert committees, public invitations at successive stages, and the requirement that the local authority act after inquiry furnished adequate guidance for the exercise of power. The ten-year period for acquisition was treated as reasonable in the context of large-scale urban planning and limited municipal resources.

Conclusion: Sections 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 were held to be valid and constitutional. The challenge based on Articles 14 and 19 failed.

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