Bill amended to allow extension of planning permission to construct buildings to perpetuity  

Himachal Pradesh Government today tabled an HP Town and country planning amendment bill 2022 allowing extension of planning permission to construct buildings under section 35 to perpetuity.

Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj tabled the bill in the house and said that as per section 31 of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977 Director has the power to grant or refuse the planning permission to construct any building etc.  Further, section 32 provides for an appeal against the order passed under section 31, and the State Government has the power of revision under section 33.

Presently, every permission granted under section 31, section 32, or section 33 remains in force for three years from the date of such grant, and thereafter, it shall lapse.  The permission may be extended from year to year, but the total period shall in no case exceed five years from the date on which the permission was initially granted.

Further, under the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, the period for completion of building or work was defined as a ” reasonable period ” to be specified by the Commissioner, The Municipal Corporation, as per section 251 of the Act.  But section 251 of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, was deleted, thus making all development, planning permissions and sanctions valid for perpetuity.

This dichotomy in the validity of development or planning permissions or sanctions between the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977 and the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 has been pointed out and discussed at various forums from time to time.  Further, it is imperative to point out here that in a hilly State, large-scale projects, especially residential, tourism, real estate and industrial projects, are rarely completed within the stipulated short span of 3 to 5 years due to various constraints like site or topographic conditions, climatic conditions and variation, financial constraints, and some unforeseen events etc.  Thus, to streamline the process of planning permission and to promote ease of doing business, it is proposed to extend the validity of map approvals under section 34 of the Act bid at par with the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 for perpetuity,  with the provision of revision and revalidation of the permission or sanction as per the requirement of the applicants and project proponents for the areas notified by the State Government.  The minister added that this Bill seeks to amend sec 34 of TCP ACT 1977 to achieve the aforesaid objectives.