Chandigarh, Dec 23: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has been moved against the Punjab government’s “Low Impact Green Habitats (LIGH), 2025” policy, with petitioners warning it poses a serious threat to the fragile ecology of the Shivalik-Kandi belt.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu on Monday fixed the matter for further hearing in January after raising concerns over the maintainability of the petition.
The court was told that the issue was already under consideration before the National Green Tribunal. The Bench indicated it was disinclined to entertain parallel proceedings on the same subject.
Senior advocate R.S. Bains, representing the petitioners, countered that the NGT could not examine the legality or constitutional validity of the notification. He argued that “the tribunal cannot declare a policy unconstitutional,” and that the relief sought before the High Court was distinct.
The petition was filed by the Public Action Committee, a citizens’ group comprising environmental experts, residents and social stakeholders, through advocate Shehbaz Thind. It challenges a notification dated Nov. 20 issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to the petition, the LIGH policy applies only to districts in the Shivalik-Kandi region, which it described as Punjab’s last major forested landscape and its primary ecological buffer.
The petition said the policy would permit construction activity that could disrupt groundwater recharge, destabilise hill slopes and worsen flooding and environmental degradation in downstream areas.
It specifically challenged provisions allowing G+1 construction, paved roads, hard surfacing and regularisation of existing illegal structures in areas governed by the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, or de-notified under it.
The petition further alleged the policy was framed without conducting carrying-capacity studies, slope-stability assessments or wildlife corridor analyses, and without obtaining mandatory environmental clearances.
Calling the notification a colourable exercise of power aimed at legitimising illegal constructions, the petition sought an interim restraint on approvals under the LIGH policy and a scientific review of the Shivalik-Kandi belt before any construction is allowed.
