News: Haryana Rule: Occupancy Certificate at Risk Over RWH-20-05-2026
Haryana has amended the Haryana Building Code 2017 so that authorities can periodically inspect rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in individual houses, plotted colonies and condominiums, and recommend cancellation of occupancy certificates (OCs) if faults are not fixed in time.
Issued by the department of town and country planning through a notice dated May 12, the amendment requires owners to self-certify on an online portal that their systems work. The competent authority, or any authorised person or body, may inspect premises where an RWH system was a condition for the OC, after prior notice.
Where deficiencies are found, owners will get four weeks to rectify them. Failure could bring penal action, and non-compliance continuing for eight weeks from the first notice may lead to revocation of the OC on the inspecting authority’s recommendation, officials said. No date has been given for statewide inspections.
DTCP officials said authorities earlier lacked adequate legal backing to act against non-functional systems.
RS Bhath, district town planner, enforcement, GMDA, said GMDA had held workshops for 68 condominiums spread across more than 10 acres, and inspections in 15 found non-functional systems, which societies were told to restore. More inspections will follow, he said, as RWH is crucial to prevent waterlogging.
A drainage report by a GMDA consultant in the last week of July 2025 found nearly 50% of residential societies and 85% of houses had non-functional structures. Under HSVP rules, RWH is mandatory for houses on plots larger than 100 square yards.
