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21. The object of the aforesaid was that the purchaser should be able to get full information of the sanction plan. It can hardly be said that while a purchaser can get the information, the person who administers the land as owner and grants the authority through a Power of Attorney to develop the land, would not have such a right.

22. We may note that this Act was, however, repealed specifically by Section 92 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘RERA’), which now, under Section 11 of the RERA, provides the functions and duties of promoters. The duties are more elaborate, as under Section 11(1) of the RERA the promoter has to create his web page on the website of the Authority and enter all details of the proposed project as provided under sub-section (2) of section 4, in all the fields as provided, for public viewing. The promoter, in terms of sub- section (3) of Section 11 of the RERA is required to make available to the allottee information about sanctioned plans, layout plans along with specifications, approved by the competent authority, by display at the site or such other place as may be specified by the Regulations made by the Authority. The object is clearly to bring greater transparency.

23. The fate of purchase of land development and investments is a matter of public knowledge and debate. Any judicial pronouncement must squarely weigh in favour of the fullest disclosure, in this behalf. In fact, the Division Bench of the Madras High Court in Dr. V.I. Mathan & Ors. vs. Corporation of Chennai & Ors.4 (to which one of us, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J. was a party) opined that though the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority mandated plans to be displayed at the site and also be made available on the website, the same principle should apply to the Corporation for all other sanctioned plans and, thus, issued directions for display of the plans on the website of the Corporation, and at the site, with clear visibility. This was just prior to the RERA coming into force.

heard and to object to the disclosure of information. The disclosure of plans, which are required to be in public domain, whether under the repealed Act or RERA, can hardly be said to be matters of commercial confidence or trade secrets. In fact, ex facie, these terms would not apply to the matter at hand. Similarly, insofar as the intellectual property is concerned, the preparation of the plan and its designs may give rise to the copyright in favour of a particular person, but the disclosure of that work would not amount to an infringement and, in fact, Section 52(1)(f) of the Copyright Act, 1957 specifically provides that there would be no such infringement if there is reproduction of any work in a certified copy made or supplied in accordance with any law for the time being in force. This is what is exactly sought for by respondent No.3 – certified copies of the approved plans and its modifications, from the public authority, being the Corporation. We may also note that Section 22 of the said Act provides for an overriding effect with a notwithstanding clause qua any inconsistency with any other Act, which reads as under:

34. In the end, we would like to say that keeping in mind the provisions of RERA and their objective, the developer should mandatorily display at the site the sanction plan. The provision of sub-section (3) of Section 11 of the RERA require the sanction plan/layout plans along with specifications, approved by the competent authority, to be displayed at the site or such other places, as may be specified by the Regulations made by the Authority. In our view, keeping in mind the ground reality of rampant violations and the consequences thereof, it is advisable to issue directions for display of such sanction plan/layout plans at the site, apart from any other manner provided by the Regulations made by the Authority. This aspect should be given appropriate publicity as part of enforcement of RERA.