{
  "id": 14314564,
  "title": "Relief for Gurugram’s licensed plotted colonies, Supreme Court halts sealing drive for 2 weeks",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/relief-for-gurugrams-licensed-plotted-colonies-supreme-court-halts",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-13T22:47:57.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/relief-for-gurugrams-licensed-plotted-colonies-supreme-court-halts-sealing-drive-for-2-weeks-10920629/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Supreme Court recently put a pause on sealing actions in Gurugram's licensed plotted colonies for a two-week period, providing a reprieve to at least 29 property owners who are contesting the Town Planning department's right to seal their properties. This decision was made by a bench led by Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe, who will reconvene on November 3 to further examine the jurisdictional dispute between the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG).\n\nResidents of licensed plotted colonies, including DLF Phases I, II and III and Sushant Lok I, had appealed to the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed their preliminary objections to the DTCP's jurisdiction in a September 7 interim order. The High Court ruled that bringing a licensed colony within municipal limits does not eliminate the department's powers under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, as it was \"designed, from its commencement, to operate inside municipal limits.\"\n\nHowever, the High Court dismissed the residents' claims, stating that arguments about transferring powers to municipal authorities lacked merit. The Court observed that if the legislature intended to transfer jurisdiction to municipal authorities, it would have been straightforward to specify it in the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994. The residents argued that the DTCP lacks the authority to issue showcause notices or seal properties following a 2008 government directive, and that the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act takes precedence over other laws in the disputed areas. They pointed out that Section 3B of the Act, which restricts building construction, applies only to DTCP-licensed developers, not individual plot owners.\n\nThe residents emphasized that obtaining MCG licenses for lodging and boarding houses, and paying property and fire taxes to it, would be rendered moot if their properties were sealed or demolished by a department lacking legal jurisdiction over their land. The Court's order to maintain the status quo would, they argued, infringe upon their fundamental right to shelter and cause significant and irreparable harm.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}