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The Bombay High Court has stayed the implementation of a 2023 Maharashtra government resolution that made it compulsory for all new building projects to include a telecom room to receive development permissions. The order came in response to a petition by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), which argued that such a rule required a formal amendment to the city's Development Plan and not just a government order. The court accepted this argument and clarified that such planning changes need to go through a legal and consultative process.
The Bombay High Court has stayed the enforcement of a 2023 state government resolution that made it mandatory to allocate a telecom room in every new building project as a condition for receiving development approval. Advertisement
The decision came after a legal challenge by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry - Raigad unit, which questioned the legality of imposing such a condition through a government resolution without making the necessary amendments to the Development Plan (DP) or the Development Control Regulations (DCR).
The court held that any change to planning requirements, such as the inclusion of a telecom room, must go through the process outlined under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act. This includes a draft notification, public notice, invitation for objections and suggestions, and final notification after due consideration.
The government resolution had referred to a 2022 recommendation by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to include telecom room provisions in building regulations across states. However, the court observed that acting upon this recommendation does not override the requirement to follow state planning law procedures.
The state government has now informed the court that it has initiated the process to formally amend the DP and the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR), which will involve public consultation. The final decision on whether such amendments will be implemented is still pending.
The division bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Arif Doctor has scheduled the next hearing for late September. The court clarified that the stay only applies to the enforcement of the condition through the 2023 resolution and does not affect the broader issue of whether the DP amendment, once formally proposed, will be valid or not.
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