Land reserved for public purpose in a layout, development plan or master plan approved by the local body cannot be used for any other purpose, the Madras High Court has ruled.A Division Bench of Justice P.D. Dinakaran and Justice P.P.S. Janarthana Raja directed all development agencies, including the Departments of Rural Development, Municipal Administration, Panchayat Raj Administration and Town and Country Planning, to scrupulously follow the direction in all layouts either sanctioned or to be sanctioned in the State.The Bench was passing orders on a writ appeal preferred by Sri Devi Nagar Residences Welfare Association at Ganapathy in Coimbatore. They were aggrieved by a resolution of the Coimbatore Corporation to use a portion of the layout reserved for public purposes for other activities."It is a settled law that the object of approving the layout, before converting the land into house sites, is to regulate the development in the locality so as to secure the present and future inhabitants sanitary conditions, amenity and convenience... One of the most important things for consideration in the preparation of the layout is not only formation of roads but also utilisation of the lands reserved for public purposes."Noting that the importance of public parks could not be underestimated, the judges said: "The open space in a residential area or in busy townships is treated as lung space of the area. Its presence ameliorates the hazards of pollution, and it has to be preserved and protected for the sustenance of the men around. It is for the health and well being of the inhabitants of that residential area. It cannot be bartered for any other purpose."The judges directed the civic authorities to develop a park at the identified spot within six months. "Where open space for construction of public park is preserved and earmarked in the plan for development of a planned town, the authorities cannot ignore or neglect to develop that open space into a public park within a reasonable time," they said.