HP High Court directs: ‘Putting Land to Use’ fulfills Section 118, not full project completion

Shimla, Oct 17,

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has clarified that once permission is granted under Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, the law only requires the land to be put to use for the approved purpose within the specified period, and not for the entire project to be completed in that timeframe.

Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, delivering the judgment in a plea filed by M/s Springdale Resorts and Villas Pvt. Ltd., emphasized that the Legislature had “consciously used the phrase ‘put to use’ instead of ‘complete the project,’” indicating that active utilization or visible progress within the approved period fulfills the statutory requirement.

The case pertained to a housing project in Solan district, for which the company had secured Section 118 permission in 2021, valid for three years. However, in February 2024, the Town and Country Planning Department declined to process the company’s revised building plans, citing that the permission had expired. The petitioner argued that construction had already commenced and that delays arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic and procedural clearances from various departments.

The Court noted that the State, after having granted a three-year window, contradicted itself by treating the permission as lapsed barely ten days later. It held that the Department had overstepped its jurisdiction by questioning the validity of the permission when its role was confined to examining the revised drawings.

Observing that the petitioner had already put the land to use for the intended purpose, the Court concluded that the company had met the legal requirement under Section 118. The High Court therefore ruled that the State authorities erred in declaring the permission expired, reinforcing that the law’s intent is to ensure bona fide utilization of land, not rigid completion of projects within a fixed period.

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