DP for public only after GB approval

In response to State Information Commissioner (SIC) (Pune bench) M Shaha’s notice to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) about the latter’s apparent failure to make public the revised draft development plan (DP), the civic body has cited the various sections of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966, for not doing so.According to the reply submitted by the office of the municipal secretary, till the time the civic body completes all the legal procedures listed in the MRTP Act, it cannot make the draft DP public.Shaha had sent a notice to the civic body, based on a formal complaint filed by activist Vijay Kumbhar in November.Kumbhar, in his official complaint, had alleged that the civic body had flouted Section IV of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, by not making the draft DP public.He had also highlighted the recent judgement by the Delhi high court (HC) asking the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to make public the Madhav Gadgil committee report on Western Ghats and to make the civic body follow the same.According to the Act, till the time the general body of the PMC passes the revised DP, the civic body cannot make it public.Referring to Section 26 of the Act, the letter stated that suggestions and objections would be invited from the public, once the revised DP is passed by the GB.