GURUGRAM: Haryana govt’s decision to put approval of stilt plus four floor buildings on hold has left hundreds of ready buildings in the city without occupation certificates (OC).
Town planners have now sought clarity from the headquarters of the department of town and country planning (DTCP) regarding the ban, pointing out that many four-storey buildings had permission for only two floors.
The owners who built the additional floors were hoping to get permission for the remaining storeys before the stay kicked in, the town planning wing wrote in a letter to the DTCP director general earlier this week.
“Case files of OCs for residential houses/floors on individual plots falling within plotted colonies, granted by architects in accordance with the standard operating procedure, are being submitted in offices of town planners for approval,” the letter stated.
Town planners have sought clarification on several cases. In some of them, building plans for stilt plus 2.5 floors were sanctioned, but owners constructed stilt plus four floors with the intention to pay a compounded fee while applying for an occupation certificate. The planning department is now in a fix whether to clear such files or not.
In other cases, four-floor building plans were approved earlier but the applicants deposited internal and external development charges (IDC and EDC) after the stay was imposed and have now sought OCs. Similarly, building plans of some four-floor properties expired before Feb 2023, and the owners are now submitting files of OC after paying extension fee.
Senior town planner Renuka Singh said, “After the ban, we have received several memorandums due to non-issuance of OC in various categories. Considering the matter in public interest, a letter has been written to the headquarters requesting them to issue clarifications or guidelines,” she said.
A senior DTCP (HQ) official said govt is studying the report submitted by the expert panel it set up to look into the fourth-floor policy. “Clarification and guidelines will be issued only after govt takes a decision,” he said.
The policy permitting construction of fourth floors was introduced in 2016, and three years later, registrations to give them independent floor status were allowed. According to govt sources, Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) sold more than a thousand plots via e-auction based on floor area ratio (FAR) of four floors with stilt parking in Gurgaon alone.
After widespread protests from residents that the policy was changed without augmentation of the civic infrastructure, which increased population density and put stress on the already crumbling civic infrastructure, the state announced on Feb 23, 2024, that the policy would be kept in abeyance till further orders.
The CM also constituted a committee of experts to examine the issue and submit recommendations, based on which a decision would be taken. The panel submitted its report in June last year.
