The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (TTCP) Act, 1971 does not empower the State government to prevent private land owners from constructing buildings on their immovable properties by declaring them to be under ‘no development zones.’
The government could only acquire such lands if they were required for any public purpose, such as maintaining the catchment area of a lake, the Madras High Court has ruled.
They said that the government could not compel the landowners to do only agriculture on those lands.
Though right to property was no more a fundamental right because of the deletion of Article 19(1)(f) from the Constitution, the right guaranteed under Article 300A (no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law) had been recognised as a human right too.