Dharamshala, Oct. 18 -- The high court of Himachal Pradesh has dismissed a long pending petition seeking permission to construct a three-storey hotel with a parking floor in Chhota Shimla.

The HC observed that planning approval granted in 1997 did not automatically entitle the petitioners to undertake construction without the mandatory building permission from the municipal corporation (MC).

Justice Sandeep Sharma, in a judgment pronounced on October 16, observed that the petitioners could not rely on the approval granted by the town and country planning (TCP) department in September 1997, as the Shimla MC had never sanctioned the building plans. The land in question was subsequently brought under the green belt and core area through go...