Chandigarh, March 21 -- In a setback to regularisation of illegal colonies, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has directed the Punjab government to ensure that property registration is done after the parties involved produce a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the competent authority.

While acting on the public interest litigation filed by one Prem Prakash, a resident of Ludhiana, the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel sought response from the state government by April 24 and further directed the authorities to ensure compliance with Section 20 (3) of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, by enquiring into validity of the licence issued to any person, which in any case is based on no-object...