Chandigarh: Within months of the Punjab government rolling back its controversial land-pooling scheme amid public outcry, it has suffered two more high-profile policy setbacks, this time through courts.
The two schemes—Policy for Approval/Regularisation of Low-Impact Green Habitats (LIGH), 2025 the new Punjab Unified Building Rules—were recently rolled out by the Bhagwant Mann-led government’s Housing and Urban Development Department to mop up at least Rs 5,000 crore in permissions with an eye on the assembly polls next year.
On 18 December, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) stayed the LIGH policy till 4 February that allowed the construction of farm houses in the environmentally fragile areas of the Shivalik mountains.
Six days later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court put some of the provisions of the Punjab Unified Building Rules on hold. The rules allowed construction of four floors on stilts in urban plots, touting it as an urban reform.
The petitioners who challenged the rules in the court argued that these would not only lead to chaotic densification but also violate fire-safety and national building norms. The petitioners also said the rules are skewed in favour of developers.
Highly placed sources in the housing department say this policy was conceived under the guidance of senior AAP leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, but executed while roughshodding over details, especially environmental concerns.
While Satyendar Jain could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, principal secretary housing Vikas Garg told ThePrint that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on matters under litigation.
In May last year, the housing department of the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government formulated a land pooling scheme for acquiring acquire more tha 65,500 acres of largely agricultural land for urbanisation.
The scheme snowballed into a major furore, with farmers holding massive protests. Under pressure, the Mann government withdrew the policy formulated in August.
Low-impact green habitat policy
The farmhouse regularisation policy notified on 20 November was to regularise the already constructed farmhouses in 55,000 hectares of land taken out of the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, while devising a system of allowing new construction. For the regularisation, a base fee per acre was to be charged.
Environmentalists and critics allege the policy had been brought to regularise farmhouses of VIPs in areas abutting forests without any concern for environmental impact.
The petitioners — Kapil Dev, Gagneesh Khurana and Mohit Jain, representing Council of Engineers —challenged the policy, alleging it violated the Supreme Court’s directions regarding land taken out of the purview of the PLPA, especially that the land will be used only for bona fide agriculture purposes and no commercial activity would take place on these lands.
The same policy was also challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the Public Action Committee, a Ludhiana-based civil action group working for the environment.
“Judicial scrutiny of the Punjab Government’s ‘Low Impact Green Habitats (LIGH) Policy, 2025’ is on a two-track phase, with different forums examining distinct legal questions arising from the policy,” Jaskirat Singh of the PAC told ThePrint.
The NGT has already stayed the operation of the LIGH policy till 4 February, pending consideration of issues relating to environmental compliance and statutory safeguards, while separately, the Punjab and Haryana High Court is hearing a petition challenging the policy on grounds of legality and executive competence, he said.
“The policy contradicts the policy guidelines set by the Supreme Court’s central empowered committee that had delisted huge tracts of land in 2010. The court had allowed delisting only for bona fide agricultural use and sustainable livelihood, while barring commercial activity,” added Singh.
On 24 November, Siddhanta Das, the chairman of the Supreme Court’s central empowered committee, wrote to Punjab Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, seeking information on the areas delisted and related court orders.
Punjab Unified Building Rules
On 15 December, the housing department notified these rules in order to consolidate the separate building-control rules laid down by the local government department for municipal areas and the ones followed by the housing department for areas outside the municipal limits.
The rules provided for self-certification of single-line diagram plans for low-rise buildings (up to 21 metres) and deemed sanction in case the competent authority fails to convey approval or rejection within the notified period.
But apart from regulatory changes, the policy allowed for the construction of stilt+4 floors on those residential plots, which are situated alongside 40-feet wide roads; permitted ground coverage to the extent of 100 percent for commercial buildings in core areas among other changes.
Harvinder Singh Sekhon, a 93 year old Punjab resident, challenged the notification alleging that the rules have been drawn “pursuant to constitution of Real Estate Advisory Committee, which mainly comprises private developers, colonizers and promoters, who have vested business interests and have, thus, ignored the public interest.”
A division bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Parmod Goyal stayed the implementation of those provisions of the new rules which were violating the provisions of the old building rules.
“It has been submitted that implementation of these Rules will lead to chaos and avoidable densification of residential areas and that the residents of the area had not been taken into confidence while framing these Rules. It has been submitted that such drastic changes could be visualized in areas which are to be developed in future and not for areas where some residents have already raised constructions, as per existing rules and bye-laws…
“In the meantime, the operation of those provisions of the notification dated 15.12.2025, which are inconsistent with the earlier Rules and Regulations, be kept in abeyance and violations, which were qualified as violations under the previous Rules and Regulations, be not regularized,” the court ordered on 24 December.
On 12 January, the housing department ordered that the high court orders be complied with while granting permissions for construction of buildings.
Jaskirat Singh of the PAC said they were supporting the petitioners in this case too.
“The first draft of these rules were brought out in mid-2025, claiming to simplify urban development. What the draft actually did was far more serious: it centralised power, weakened municipal control, liberalised building floor area ratio and height norms, and expanded self-certification across the state—without first fixing fire safety, drainage, sewage, or enforcement failures,” said Jaskirat Singh.
He added that multiple objections were filed to the draft plan, where citizens and resident groups sought meeting and personal hearings but the government did not call anyone for a meeting.
“Despite widespread objections, the government overruled them all and notified the rules in December 2025, unchanged. No reasons were given. No carrying-capacity studies were disclosed. Municipal concerns were brushed aside,” added Singh.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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