Relief for Gurugram’s licensed plotted colonies, Supreme Court halts sealing drive for 2 weeks

The petition cited Section 3(4) of the Act, which provides that municipal rules and by-laws apply “unless specifically excluded”.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday halted sealing drives in Gurugram’s licensed plotted colonies for two weeks, granting relief to at least 29 property owners challenging the Town Planning department’s authority to seal their properties after the areas were brought within municipal limits.

A bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe will hear the matter next on November 3 to examine the jurisdictional dispute involving the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG).

Residents from licensed plotted colonies, including DLF Phases I, II and III and Sushant Lok I, had approached the SC after the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a September 7 interim order, rejected their preliminary objections to the DTCP’s jurisdiction.

The HC had held that bringing a licensed colony within municipal limits does not extinguish the department’s powers under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975. The Act, it observed, was “designed, from its commencement, to operate inside municipal limits”.

“Municipalization neither creates that jurisdiction, nor extinguishes it. The license is the source, and it subsists,” the HC had said.

Rejecting the residents’ claims, the HC had said that arguments regarding the transfer of powers to municipal authorities are “bereft of any merit”. It noted that “had the legislature intended to transfer to the municipal authorities, the enforcement of the Act of 1975 in licensed colonies, nothing would have been easier than to say so”.

In their plea, filed through advocate Aditya Singh, the residents argued that the DTCP has no authority to issue showcause notices or seal their properties following a 2008 government notification expanding the MCG’s boundaries.

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They contended that the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, became the governing statute for the disputed areas, excluding jurisdiction under other enactments. The petition cited Section 3(4) of the Act, which provides that municipal rules and by-laws apply “unless specifically excluded”.

Challenging the HC’s reliance on the 1975 Act, the residents argued that Section 3B, which restricts building construction, applies only to a licensee developing a project and not to an individual plot allottee who is not constructing multiple buildings. They further argued that the Act does not apply to individuals whose land measures less than 4,000 sq m and falls within a municipal area.

The residents have highlighted that they had obtained MCG licences to operate lodging and boarding houses and were paying property and fire taxes to it. Allowing the HC order to stand, the petitioners argued, would violate their “fundamental right to shelter” and result in “grave and irreparable loss” if their properties were sealed or demolished by a department that no longer holds legal jurisdiction over their land.

Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana. Education - Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020) - B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019) Professional Experience Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features. Reporting Interests His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon. Recent Coverage (2025) - Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025). - Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025). - Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025). - Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram. - Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025). - Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025). Contact X (Twitter): @AB_Hazardous ... Read More

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