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Punjab to launch populist OTS policy for regularising building violations
In the new OTS policy expected to get Punjab cabinet approval, the compounding rates have been reduced to a level lower than any such previous measure that the state has seen
Chandigarh In a populist step ahead of assembly polls in 2022, the Punjab local bodies department has proposed a One-Time Settlement (OTS) of non-compoundable violations in residential houses, commercial shops and institutional buildings falling in municipalities and improvement trusts constructed in contravention of by-laws. The matter is expected to be taken up in Monday’s cabinet meeting for approval.
The proposed policy further lowers compounding charges finalised in 2018. It says, “Non-compoundable building violations in residential plotted buildings, disclosed voluntarily, may be settled as a one-time measure by paying a composition fee of ₹250 per square feet of the non-compoundable (unauthorised construction) area.” The area of all floors will be taken into account at the time of compounding, to a maximum height of 50 feet. These rates are for A-Class municipal corporation cities, including Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali and Ludhiana.
In 2018, the compounding fee for A-Class cities was fixed to ₹600 per square feet, which received objections from property owners and saw few takers, with only 700 applications received, even as the government expects the number to be in thousands.
For cities and towns classified as B, C and D, the compounding fee fixed is lower, in view of the potential value of the said property and location.
The scheme covers unapproved and unregularised houses, shops and institutional buildings falling in cities and towns of the state, within the jurisdiction of 165 civic bodies including corporations, councils and notified area committees. Areas falling under the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) in Mohali, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Patiala are not covered in the scheme.
“If for some reason, the matter doesn’t come up for discussion before the council of ministers on Monday, it would come up in the next meeting and a legislation would be passed in the upcoming session of the Vidhan Sabha on November 8,” said an official with the department.
NEW GOVT TO TAKE CHARGE OF PROCESS
The policy will be an extension of the ‘Punjab One-time Voluntary Disclosure and Settlement of Violations of the Buildings Constructed in Violation of the Building Byelaws in Corporations and Municipalities Act, 2004’. Sources said either amendments will be introduced in the said law or it will be repealed and a new law will be enacted. As per the proposal the last date for applying for regularising the violation is March 31, 2022 and the subsequent processes would take place, once the new government takes over.
Local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra said the department was ready with a (regularisation) policy and would be shortly launched. “Before formalising the scheme, we have taken public views, and the department has also taken into consideration the legal angle and the ground realities,” he added.
For violators who own commercial properties, the compounding fee has been fixed to Rs. 500 per square yards in A-class municipal cities and is lower in other category towns and cities. In case of institutional buildings, compounding charges have been fixed at 75% of what is charged from commercial properties falling in the same category towns and cities; for charitable and government-aided institutional buildings, charges are up to 40% of that on commercial properties.
The policy, according to department officers, also relaxes parking norms, providing the option to build the service at a distance of 300m from the commercial hub, if adequate space is not available in the vicinity.
