Planning Legislation & Professional Practice

Law, legislation, bill, Act, ordinance, rules, regulations and by-laws, and how a bill becomes an Act; the State's four powers over property — eminent domain, police power, taxation and escheat; the Indian constitutional basis, including property as a constitutional (not fundamental) right under Article 300A; and statutory control as a positive tool in plan preparation and implementation.

The Acts and rules that run local government — the panchayat, municipality and corporation Acts and the development authorities; the 74th Constitutional Amendment (1992) that gave urban local bodies constitutional status and the Twelfth Schedule's planning functions; land acquisition from the 1894 Act to the LARR Act 2013; and the rent-control and apartment-ownership Acts.

The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act 1971 and the planning authorities it creates; the Urban Land Ceiling Act (1976, repealed 1999); the slum, housing and public-health Acts; the environmental framework (the National Environment Policy and EIA, 2006); the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy (2007); and how these laws shape what can be built and where.

The town planner's professional role and responsibility; planning consultancy service; professional ethics — the code of conduct and the professional charge; the role of the inter-disciplinary group; and the planner's role in decision-making and the consultancy-assignment process.

The aim and objectives of professional institutions; the Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI, 1951) and international bodies (ISOCARP, the RTPI); how the planning profession is organised in India — and the contrast with the statutory regulation of architecture; setting up private practice; and career options and prospects.