Change in rule for setting up site office to increase reliability, reduce chances of litigation: Senior town planner

A developer can apply for an occupation certificate for the site office after completing the said building.

The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), Haryana, has come out with a revised set of rules governing the construction and demolition of site offices. The state government notified the policy under Section 11 of the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restricted of Unregulated Development Act, 1963, and Section 9A of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.

Developers set up site offices, stores and huts for construction workers, etc, for the execution of their project and to fulfil day-to-day requirements. In its new guidelines, the DTCP said, “The existing provisions of Haryana Building Code, 2017, as well as repealed Rules, 1965, do not cater to the practical requirements. These structures are temporary in nature but do not come into the ambit of ‘temporary building’ as per the provision of Haryana Building Code, 2017, as well as repealed Rules, 1965,” it said.

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Old policy related to the temporary structure

According to the Haryana Building Code, 2017, “Temporary building means a building built of unburnt bricks, burnt bricks without mortar, corrugated iron, bamboo, thatch, wood, board or plywood but shall not include a building built of burnt bricks, cement blocks or stones laid in mortar and such structures can be dismantled or re-located.”

The DTCP order noted that in order to meet practical requirements, and for safety of the engineers, labourers and other persons related to the construction work, the temporary structures as mentioned in HBC, 2017, are not safe. “In fact, the temporary buildings in existence are in contravention to the definition provided in the code/rules,” it said.

Senior town planner, Gurugram, Narendra Singh Solanki said that a need to revise the guidelines was felt because as per the previous definition of a temporary structure, the requirement of a site office cannot be fulfilled. He said that it’s a good step that the site office structure has now been clearly defined.

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“If you see the definition, it asked the developers to make temporary site offices using materials that were used six-seven decades ago. Even the use of bricks was not permissible. That is practically not possible today. Thus, the law has been improved. Otherwise, it could have paved the way for blackmailing the coloniser by ill-intentioned people. The earlier rule could have put a question mark on authorities as to how we approved such an infra. Also, people could question that the approved structure on paper is different from what the developer built,” said Solanki.

He added that a site office cannot be in a park, or a site allocated for an electric substation.

What is the new policy?

According to the revised policy, the site should be within the licensed area or on self-acquired land having freehold title or having ownership through a lease period of a minimum of five years with an adequate independent approach not less than 33 ft. No separate approach is required if the site is part of a licensed area. The minimum and maximum area norms for the site office are 0.5 acres and 2.0 acres, respectively.

“The temporary site office shall be put to use within two years from the date of its sanction. The validity of the temporary permission shall be co-terminus with the validity of licence but not beyond the date of completion of the project,” said the new guidelines.

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It noted that the temporary site office, workers’ huts and stores, etc, should be constructed considering safety norms and other applicable laws, notwithstanding the definition of ‘temporary building’ and construction material as defined earlier.

A developer can apply for an occupation certificate for the site office after completing the said building. The licence will be issued by the office of the DTP concerned. “The occupation certificate has to be obtained within a period of two years from the date of grant of permission for setting up of site office as the site is required to be put to use within a period of two years as per the provisions of Rules, 1965,” said the new guidelines.

No completion certificate if site office is not demolished

The department will give initial permission for a maximum of five years, which will be extendable on ‘justifiable circumstances’ for another period of a maximum five years.

“The temporary site office shall be demolished within a maximum period of 10 years from the date of grant of permission. No completion certificate for the colony concerned shall be granted in case the site office is not demolished even in cases where the 10-year period has not expired,” said the guidelines.

Solanki said that the maximum time frame of 10 years will reduce the chances of litigation in case of any delay in the project.

Noida in Uttar Pradesh also has a similar provision where a builder cannot get a completion certificate if the site office is not demolished.

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‘New guidelines to increase credibility’

Solanki noted that the new guidelines will increase credibility. “Would you trust a coloniser who sets up his site office in a container or a rail coach? Every coloniser wants to construct a nice-looking site office as it’s the first impression on the prospective buyers. It also reflects the future of the project,” he said.

Moneycontrol reached out to many Gurugram-based developers but they refused to comment on the matter.