News: Notices to 13 architects for granting OCs to 20 buildings that flouted rules.-14-04-2023
The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has served show cause notices to 13 architects for issuing occupation certificates to 20 buildings in licensed colonies in violation of the Haryana building code of 2017.
As per the notice, if the architects fail to furnish satisfactory replies within three days, the department will initiate action as per the norms which include blacklisting from the department and legal action as per the law.
In November last year, the DTCP had empowered architects to grant OC to the buildings under a self certification scheme. More than 200 buildings have been issued OCs since then. The department has power to randomly check 10% of the OCs granted by architects and initiate action, if violations are detected.
Under the provisions, the department constituted a team of three assistant town planners to check the buildings which were recently granted OC by the architects. Following the inspection, the teams submitted their report to the district town planner informing him that violations were found in 20 buildings.
The main violations which were detected were incomplete construction work, missing front railing and on the staircases, covered cut outs, violation of zoning plan, unauthorised construction in stilt areas and others. In some cases the buildings were incomplete but still the OCs were issued. Most of these buildings are situated in DLF 4 and 5, Sushant Lok 1, Ansal Esencia, Vatika India Next, Vipul World, South City 2 and others.
Rajesh Kaushik, DTP (planning), said the architects have violated the norms and granted OCs to buildings which have deficiencies. “We have sought their replies within three days, in case they fail to furnish satisfactory replies action will be initiated against them as per the norms” he said.
DTCP guidelines say that any architect registered with the Council of Architecture(CoA) can issue an occupation certificate for a property after going through all concerned documents. Within three days of issuing the OC, a physical copy of the application along with documents has to be submitted to the department for record.
During the checks, if violations are detected or the building is found to be incomplete, the concerned DTP can issue show cause notice and if required blacklist the concerned architects and even withdraw the OC. The department may also make recommendation to the registration authority for not registering any floor/building of such architects.
The move was aimed at expediting the process of obtaining an OCand making it simpler for the house owner. But it also sparked concerns about architects being manipulated into granting the papers and violations like illegal extensions going undetected.
