DELHI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Vs. PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whore there is no vision, the people perish. (Bible O.T. XXIX : 18). In 1957 the Parliament passed the Delhi Development Act (the Act). It came into force on December 30, 1957. The Act set up a corporate body known as the Delhi Development Authority (D.D.A.) to ensure planned development of this fast expanding city of Delhi. The object of D.D.A. is "to promote and secure development of Delhi according to plan" (s. 6). The Act required D.D.A. to carry out, as soon as may be, a civic survey and to prepare a Master Plan for Delhi (the Plan). The civic survey was carried out. The Plan was prepared. It came into force on September 1,1962. The Plan, the Act says, shall serve as "a basic pattern of framework" within which the proper development of Delhi in to be carried out. An image of the future is the core of this Plan. The planners are trying to express the vision in terms of recognisable subject matter. They vision what was once a tiny town as the future metropolis.

(2.) The Plan aims a.t a modern planned capital. Delhi should be beautifully planned and admirably built. It should be a model of' urban development. Slums should be cleared, parks established, sanitation and health made a civic concern. In short Delhi should be a matter of civic pride. These are the aims of the planners and developers.

(3.) The. Plan is based on the concept of land use. It relates residential needs to commercial, industrial and public needs. The Plan has a ruling conception and design. Its main object is to place limitations on the use of the land and buildings. It prescribes a "land use". The city has been divided into a number of "use zones" such as residential, commercial, industrial, recreational etc. Land is a subject of regulation' and control in terms of the Plan.