In an order with far-reaching implications, the Jharkhand High Court (HC) has ordered to implead over 5,000 illegally built and sold buildings, residential and commercial complexes without completion (CC) and occupancy certificates (OC) in Jamshedpur and Ranchi and file a fresh petition seeking compliance with the Supreme Court (SC) order dated December 17, 2024 making CCs and OCs mandatory, lawyers close to the development said on Thursday.
“The double bench of HC Chief Justice MS Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar on Tuesday allowed our prayer in writ petition (WP) (PIL) No: 7877/2025) to withdraw it and file a fresh petition impleading about two dozen illegally built and sold buildings without any completion certificates and occupancy certificates. There could be over 5,000 such buildings in Jamshedpur and Ranchi with 1,900 such buildings listed,” Akhilesh Srivastav, senior lawyer representing Jamshedpur-based petitioner Arun Kumar Singh said.
Srivastav said they prayed for an appropriate order to the state of Jharkhand, the state urban development department, and urban local bodies - particularly Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) and Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC)—for compliance with the SC order on December 17, 2024 in the civil appeal no: 14,604 and 14,605 - Rajendra Kumar Barjatya and Rajiv Gupta vs UP Housing Corporation.
“The SC ruled that municipal commissioners must ensure builders submit a mandatory affidavit before approving any building plan and construction permit. This affidavit must explicitly state that no floor or flat will be sold or handed over to any buyer without obtaining a valid CC and OC. The SC had sent this order to the chief secretaries of all states, but the Jharkhand chief secretary failed to implement it, leading to the unabated continuance of a nexus of builders and local district and urban body authorities that bypasses the CC and OC involving crores of illegal income and corruption,” said Srivastav.
{{/usCountry}}“The SC ruled that municipal commissioners must ensure builders submit a mandatory affidavit before approving any building plan and construction permit. This affidavit must explicitly state that no floor or flat will be sold or handed over to any buyer without obtaining a valid CC and OC. The SC had sent this order to the chief secretaries of all states, but the Jharkhand chief secretary failed to implement it, leading to the unabated continuance of a nexus of builders and local district and urban body authorities that bypasses the CC and OC involving crores of illegal income and corruption,” said Srivastav.
{{/usCountry}}“During the past 20 years, the JNAC has sanctioned building plans and construction permits for 2,000 buildings but given CCs and OCs to only 28 of those. The JNAC has issued show cause notice to about 650 buildings in Jamshedpur but has not passed final order on any one of those during the past 15 years. It has previously given undertaking in the HC of sealing 108 buildings in Jamshedpur but has not complied with HC orders of demolition,” Srivastav said, quoting the petition.
He alleged that the Urban local bodies like JNAC and its deputy municipal commissioners have not been passing final order after showing cause notices deliberately.
“Passing final orders will legally obligate JNAC to demolish the illegal deviated portions of the buildings before giving CCs and OCs. Instead, they have made these thousands of illegally built buildings a continuous source of illicit income for corrupt officials and builders, leaving the flat buyers vulnerable and without legal safety certificates and cover,” added Srivastav.