THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2021 — to be tabled in the assembly on Monday, October 4, 2021, to make changes in the Act passed in 2016 — could divest the local bodies of their powers to participate in the dynamic process of planning and development. Experts also point out that the Bill is against the spirit of the decentralisation of powers envisioned in the People’s Plan Campaign (Janakeeyasoothranam) introduced by the Left.
Jacob Easow, a former additional chief town planner, told TNIE that the proposed Bill amending the 2016 Act, if passed, will curtail the freedom of the elected local bodies in planning development. “The amendment will bring bottlenecks to the development process of the five-year democratic system in Kerala. It is also against the suggestions of the Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, although the suggestion to revise the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act was part of the Rebuild Kerala Initiative,” he said.
The proposed amendment suggests omitting the provision for execution plan from the master plan, and including priority action plan instead. In fact, the master plan/perspective plan/long term plan is for 20 years, while the executive plan or middle range plan/medium term plan is for a period of five years. As part of the execution plan, elected local bodies can resolve urban issues or alleviate people’s miseries by taking up a project.
It will take years to get approval for the master plan as it is a cumbersome exercise involving a slew of legal processes. To sanction the plan, approvals are necessary from more than five offices, like the district town and country planning office, district planning committee, office of the chief town planner, and finally the secretariat and the government. As a component of the master plan, the priority action plan becomes very rigid and static.
Moreover, it will have to follow all the cumbersome formalities and lengthy legal process the master plan takes. “This will not just divest the powers of the local bodies elected every five years, but take away the spirit of decentralised planning and its principles. It will not help in rebuilding a new Kerala, rather will lead to a deterioration of Kerala,” said an official who was part of the exercise.
The official termed the move “administrative smuggling”. Further, a sub-committee formed to draft the proposal undermined the power of the district planning committee. The proposed amendment also gives undue importance to the chief town planner, officials pointed out.
The bill
The Kerala Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2021, has been drafted to avoid delays in the preparation of master plans and to incorporate measures in spatial planning due to natural calamities.
The government has approved in principle the amendment to the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act, 2016.
The 2016 Act was enacted by replacing a 100-year-old British Act just five years ago.
In the new Bill, the provision for execution plan is proposed to be omitted. Instead a provision for priority action plan, within the master plan prepared by the local body concerned, is to be incorporated in the Act.
The reason cited is that there is a long legal procedure to sanction the execution plan.
The priority action plan requires the same procedure for sanctioning as that of the master plan.
The execution plan is for a period of five years while the master plan is for 20 years.
By omitting the execution plan in the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act, 2016, local bodies stand to lose a great opportunity to act as local self-governments, and for good governance.