GURUGRAM: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday clarified that it had not stayed construction of stilt-plus-four floors, but the state govt said the policy was still on hold as a final decision on it was pending.
HC had sought the Haryana govt’s response after a realtor filed a petition claiming a stay had been imposed on the stilt-plus-four-floor policy (S+4) policy in the city.
The bench of justices Arun Palli and Vikram Aggarwal said it was up to the department of town and country planning (DTCP) to decide if it wanted to implement the policy.
Additional advocate general Ankur Mittal, representing the govt, also admitted during the hearing that DTCP had put the S+4 policy on hold and the court had never imposed any ban on its implementation.
The plea by realtors was filed as the two-judge bench has been hearing a petition by the Gurgaon Citizens Council, which had sought a stay on govt’s policy allowing S+4 construction in the NCR city.
In Feb 2023, DTCP had suspended the implementation of this policy and formed an expert committee that was supposed to recommend if S+4 construction should be allowed in Gurgaon.
Despite this order, on July 2 this year, the department released guidelines for S+4 construction, prompting GCC to question before the high court on how the rules could be framed if the policy was on hold.
The SOPs allowed S+4 construction in colonies where the layout plan permitted three floors with stilt parking and 10-metre-wide roads.
DTCP also listed standards for issuing occupation certificates (OCs) for buildings where additional floors were constructed without permissions. It proposed creating a portal for transparent and quick approval of such building plans.
Separately, developers have filed another petition before the HC to become parties in the case. The court has issued a notice to GCC seeking a response.
The high court will take up the case next on Oct 23.
As uncertainty persists about the policy’s implementation, realtors said that HC’s clarification gives them an indication that DTCP could come up with a revised set of norms.
“There is no court order preventing construction of stilt-plus-four floors in residential areas. New directives could soon be issued by the department,” Narendra Yadav, president of the Gurugram Home Developers Association, said.
