Telangana brings new law doing away with approvals for construction
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, September 14
Residents of Telangana will no longer need any permission from municipal corporations and other urban bodies in urban areas for starting construction activity henceforth.
The state Legislative Assembly on Monday passed revolutionary legislation that eliminates the need for permissions and waiting for approval of building plans after a self-certification that the activity would be in accordance with the permissible norms.
The Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self Certification System (TS-bPASS) Bill was passed by the Telangana House unanimously, ending decades of cumbersome procedures and corrupt practices.
The Bill was introduced by Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao and was immediately passed without any objections.
The minister said the TS-bPASS was a self-certification system to make citizens responsible and ensure that they adhere to the building and layout permission rules of the state government.
As per the new law, people constructing a building within 75 square yards land need not obtain any permission from the authorities concerned. However, they must register with the urban local body using TS-bPASS.
The citizens can also obtain instant permission for constructions on 75 square yards to 600 square yards through self-certification under TS-bPASS and commence their construction work without the need to pay bribes to get maps and building plans approved.
However, for construction in lots of a size bigger than 600 square yards, the authorities concerned will examine the applications seeking permissions and issue necessary permissions within 21 days. In case of shortfall of any documents, the same will be intimated to the applicant within 10 days.
Under the new Act, all municipalities including GHMC are mandated to clear all the building permit applications within the stipulated 21 days failing which the permission is deemed to have been approved.
“Further, an automated certificate will be issued to the applicant with the signatures of relevant authorities including the municipal commissioner and the town planning officer on behalf of the municipality concerned, to enable them to obtain bank loans or other financial assistance,” Rao said.
The occupancy certificates also will be issued within 15 days upon submitting relevant documents.
According to the government, the objective of the new law is to “to reduce human interference and bring transparency in issuing building permissions as well as make citizens more responsible”.
The authorities concerned were empowered to reject the application, in case of shortfall of documents or any irregularities.
As a check, the new law empowers authorities to demolish the structure without any prior notice if the construction is unauthorised or illegal in any manner that includes construction on someone else’s land.
Four Bills were introduced in the House today. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) introduced the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Bill 2020 and the Telangana Abolition of the Posts of Village Revenue Officers Bill 2020.
Earlier the Municipal Administration Minister had introduced the Telangana Municipal Laws Amendment Bill 2020. The Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao introduced the Telangana Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill 2020 in the Assembly.
The objective of the Revenue Bill, KCR said was that it will help to achieve corruption less, hassle-free registration and mutation through Dharani Portal.
“The VROs lost their relevance. They have misused their power and we can’t be mute spectators. But there are people who say that we are bringing the Act for few landlords. But there are no lands; there are only 0.11 per cent farmers who have more than 50 acres of lands that too in the form of orchards etc. Over 98.38 per cent of farmers have landholdings less than 10 acres,” he said.
