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Gurugram: Town and Country Planning Department (DTCP) has issued show cause notices to 13 architects for not issuing occupancy certificates to 20 buildings in licensed colonies. Haryana Building Code of 2017,
As per the notice, if the architects fail to submit a satisfactory reply within three days, the department will initiate action as per rules, including blacklisting from the department and legal action as per law.
In November last year the DTCP Architects were empowered to give OC to buildings under the self-certification scheme. Since then OCs have been issued to more than 200 buildings. The department has the power to randomly check 10% of the OC provided by the architects and initiate action if violations are found.
Under the provisions, the department constituted a team of three assistant town planners to examine the buildings which were recently granted OC by the architects. After inspection, the teams submitted their reports to the district town planner, stating that violations were found in 20 buildings.
The main violations that were detected included incomplete construction work, missing front railing and stairs, covered cut outs, violation of zoning plan, unauthorized construction in stilt areas and others. In some cases OCs were issued even though the buildings were incomplete. Most of these buildings are located in DLF 4 and 5, Sushant Lok 1. Ansal Essensia, Vatika India Next, Vipul WorldSouth City 2 and more.
DTP (Planning) Rajesh Kaushik said the architect has violated norms and given OC to buildings with deficiencies. “We have sought their reply within three days, if they fail to give a satisfactory reply, action will be initiated against them as per rules,” he added.
The DTCP guidelines state that any architect registered with the Council of Architecture (CoA) can issue an occupation certificate for a property after going through all the relevant documents. Within three days of issue of OC, a physical copy of the application along with the documents has to be submitted to the department for record.
During the investigation if any violation is found or the building is found to be incomplete, the concerned DTP may issue a show cause notice and if necessary blacklist the concerned architect and even withdraw the OC . The department may also recommend to the registering authority not to register any floor/building of such architects.
The move was aimed at expediting the process of obtaining an OC and making it easier for the home owner. But it raised concerns about architects awarding papers being manipulated and breaches such as illegal extensions going undetected.
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