Sustainable Development and Statutory Plans

– A Critical Appraisal of draft Development Plan of Shimla – 2041

Abstract

In 2017 National Green Tribunal (NGT) prohibited construction in the core area of Shimla on account of it being contrary to principles of sustainable development,precautionary principle and principle of public trust doctrine. Agreement on what constitutes sustainable development and its measurement continues to elude scholars. In practice, however, most of the countries have adopted some form of measurement of sustainability. India has made specific commitments and set certain targets to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a signatory to Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development by the year 2030 of the UN General Assembly. Within the larger national commitments, each state has also formulated state wise targets to meet the SDGs. Implementation of SDGs requires interconnected approach and coordinated intergovernmental efforts. While there are various central and state government missions, programmes and schemes focussing on different aspects of SDGs, the statutory plans as an instrument of implementation of SDGs is relatively less discussed in the literature. Preparation of Integrated Development Plans as one of the targets in SDGs focusses on whether the availability of the plan. The quality of plan and its role towards meeting SDGs is much less discussed. As is often said that devil lies in the details. It is in the preparation of statutory plans
which allocates land to various uses and users that a balancing act between environment, equity and economic growth takes concrete shape. The recent court
case in the Supreme Court over the boundaries of NGT Act 2010 and Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act determining extent and intensity of
development in the ecologically and topographically challenging town of Shimla raises interesting questions about the way sustainable development is imagined and practiced. This paper through the critical appraisal of legal frameworks, institutional arrangements as well as NGT orders and draft development plan document for 2041 highlights the contradictions and inconsistencies in the planning processes and speculates on the forces shaping the planning processes and its implications on sustainable development.