The UT Administrator’s Advisory Council (AAC) will meet on Thursday, in absence of a key member, city MP Kirron Kher.
Turning down the request of Kher to postpone the meeting, the UT Administration has decided to hold the meeting on Thursday to discuss the sole agenda — UT Master Plan.
However, after the intervention of Union Home Ministry on the issue, the UT Administration has decided to accept the recommendations and suggestions of Kher on Master Plan whenever she is available.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Kirron had submitted that the UT Administration did not consult her before finalising the date of the AAC meeting. After which, the MHA had sought an explanation from the UT Administration.
Earlier, the AAC meeting was fixed for June 16, but later the meeting was postponed and fixed for June 19. Kher, in a letter written to the Administration had requested them to postpone the meeting and convene it after June 27 as she will be available after that.
Sources said that the Administration is likely to extend the AAC meet for more than two days. The voluminous report submitted by the Inquiry of Board and Hearing on UT Master Plan will be discussed during the AAC meeting.
At present, the matter related to UT Master Plan is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Administration is in no mood to delay the discussion on Master Plan to finalize it at the earliest, said the sources.
The meeting to be chaired by UT Administrator Shivraj Patil will began at 11 am on Thursday and is likely to continue till evening. The 250-page report of the Board will be placed before the AAC for discussion. A copy of this report has already been sent to all the members of AAC.
Notably, the Board has turned down the demands for reintroduction of the Apartment Act, re-densification of government houses, extension of the lal dora, box type structures in commercial establishments and increase in the floor area ratio (FAR) in residential, commercial and educational institutes.
As per guidelines framed by the Administration for AAC, the members of the Council are nominated by the UT Administrator from amongst the persons belonging to different sections of the society, generally residing in the union territory of Chandigarh.