Soon, uniform land, building rules in urban areas across state

In a move that will usher in uniform and planned development of urban areas, the state government will soon introduce common zoning regulations in all urban local bodies and urban development authorities, including Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Bengaluru Development Authority, in the state.

The Urban Development department (UDD) has decided to amend Section 13(e) of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (KTCP) Rules to incorporate the common zoning regulation (ZR) of land.

Rules pertaining to layout development and building construction, including setback norms, will be common in all urban local bodies (ULBs) and urban development authorities’ (UDAs) jurisdiction once the common zoning regulations come into effect. The common zoning regulations apply to both residential and non-residential development.

Currently, all ULBs and UDAs grant permissions related to urban development activities, including layout development and building construction, based on their own zoning regulations incorporated in master plans.

UDAs have the power to prepare their own master plan. As a result, all cities and towns in the state have different zoning regulations.

Once the common zoning regulations kick in, the system of approving building plan, issuing no-objection certificates and occupancy certificates for buildings, granting transferrable development rights will be common in all cities and towns. Safety measures to be followed in high-rise buildings, norms for parking space and protection of heritage structures will also be spelt out in the common zoning regulations, official sources in the UDD said.

The UDD is preparing the common zoning regulations based on the model building bye-laws circulated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

The UDD had directed the Directorate of Town and Country Planning to look into the model bye-law and submit a report on steps to be taken to bring in uniform development of urban areas. Most of the recommendations made by the directorate in its report have been accepted, the officials said. However, the UDD is still undecided on introducing deemed sanction system for building plans as recommended by the directorate.

Under the deemed sanction system, a building plan prepared by ‘competent professionals’ (structural engineers, service engineers and proof consultants) is considered a deemed building permit. One only needs to submit an application to the civic body along with the requisite documents before starting construction. The civic body should examine the application within 10 days and inform the professionals about deficiencies, if any, with a direction to rectify them. But the deemed permit applies only to those buildings that are planned for construction on plots measuring not more than 105 sq metres.

Ease of doing business

The sources said the common zoning regulations are also aimed at ensuring ease of doing business in the state.

It will enable the government to implement the online system for plan approval. Karnataka had slipped to 13th rank in ease of doing business in the country in 2016. The state was ranked ninth in 2015.