The Supreme Court on Monday stressed the need for a comprehensive action plan by state governments to prevent the coming up of unauthorised colonies, saying mushrooming of illegal colonies across the country is a menace to urban development.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai appointed senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan as amicus curiae in the matter and asked him to suggest what can be done by the government to stop illegal colonies.
"The consequences are so drastic on mushrooming of illegal colonies in all these cities in this country. We have seen floods in Hyderabad and Kerala, all this is because of irregular colonies," the bench said.
"Unless there is some comprehensive action plan by the state governments so as to prevent these colonies from coming up, take these relevant officers to task for allowing these colonies, and thereafter one of the suggestions is to stop the registration so that people do not claim equities. We will have to find some way of making state governments act on this. This is a menace to urban development," the bench added.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Sravan Kumar on behalf of Juvvadi Sagar Rao, a resident of Telangana, for directions to check unregulated developments, including illegal layouts, causing damage to the environment and resulting in frequent floods, besides, traffic mess, drainage and electricity problems in the cities.
The court asked the amicus to submit his suggestions within two weeks, after seeking responses from the States and Union Territories. It put the matter for hearing after three weeks.
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