Ordinance Summary 

The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020

• The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated on August 28, 2020.  The Ordinance applies retrospectively from March 23, 2020.  It amends the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.  The Act provides for the constitution of regional planning boards, preparation of development plans by the planning authorities and other related matters in the state.  Key features of the Ordinance are:
   
• Development plan: The Act provides that a draft development plan must be prepared and published by a planning authority within two years.  The development plan is a plan made by the planning authority for development or redevelopment of the area under its jurisdiction.  For Municipal Corporations with population of more than 10 lakh but less than one crore, the two year period to publish a draft plan can be further extended for another twelve months.  The Ordinance allows such extension for planning authorities with population between 10 lakh and one crore.  A planning authority is a local authority constituted or appointed by the state government for the development of certain notified areas. 
   
• Exclusion of time: The Act lays down a certain timeline related to various actions such as preparation of draft town planning schemes, and development permission, among others.  If any process related to these are hampered due to any interim order of the court or code of conduct during elections, such period lost can be excluded while calculating the timeline.  The Ordinance amends the Act to additionally exclude the time lost due to implementation of lockdown measures by either the central or state government for mitigating the spread of any pandemic or epidemic or disaster in the country or state. 

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