It will take some time before city dwellers are actually able to get their building plans approved through a single-window system as promised under the Delhi Unified Building By-Laws, 2016.
Going by the pace of work carried out by various agencies in the Capital, it is likely that the April 15 deadline for complete integration of online building plan approvals will be missed. Released by the Union Urban Development Ministry last week, the fresh by-laws now have to be notified by the Delhi government.
“A report has been sought from the municipal corporations on the new guidelines. The urban development department is also examining it and various aspects like disaster resistance and green buildings are being reviewed,” said a senior government official.
Even if the fresh by-laws are notified by the Delhi government, its key feature — “Common Application Form” (CAF) — may take more than the stipulated time. “Until now, the approach to online approval system has been present only in bits and pieces. Integration by external bodies will happen but it is likely to take a month’s time. Besides, it is the civic bodies which will have to incorporate the inputs from other agencies and prepare the online CAF,” said Ramesh Menon of delhimasterplan.com.
The delay is likely to affect real estate developers who design big projects more, than the residents who seek approval for their houses, he added.
Under the new by-laws, external bodies like Delhi Urban Art Commission, National Monuments Authority, Airports Authority of India, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Heritage Conservation Committee, Department of Industries and Ministry of Defence and so on are mandated to prepare online No Objection Certificate (NOC) compatible to and integrated with that of the local bodies.
Besides, the specific requirements of the external bodies are to be added in the CAF prepared by the civic bodies so that an applicant can file all information at a single customized online application.
Single-window system promised under Delhi
Unified Building By-laws 2016
