Repairs such as plastering, painting, flooring, roof replacement and alterations to doors and windows will not require prior building plan approval, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has clarified in a public notice listing works exempt from permission under the Unified Building Bye-Laws for Delhi, 2016 (UBBL-2016).
The notice, issued on October 22 also exempts specified public utility structures, including public toilets, traffic and police control rooms, air purification systems, vertical gardens, dhalaos and solar panels, from building permits, subject to prescribed conditions. Under the notice, qualifying public utility structures measuring up to 25 square metres and executed or promoted by government agencies for public safety, health, pollution control, transport, water supply, sewage disposal and solid waste management do not require building permits. He also announced plans for an awareness campaign to ensure residents were not inconvenienced or confused by compliance requirements.
The list of exempt works includes plastering, cladding and patch repairs; re-roofing at the existing height; flooring and re-flooring; repairs to damaged bricks, stones, pillars and beams; and internal partitions permitted under the bye-laws. Owners can also undertake whitewashing, painting and false ceiling installation, provided the ceiling is not used to create a loft or mezzanine. Other exemptions cover boundary walls permitted under the bye-laws, parapets, sunshades up to 75cm wide within the owner’s land, landscaping and public art. Installation or relocation of fixtures and equipment is also permitted if it does not encroach on another person’s property or public land. Installation of lifts in existing low-rise residential plotted buildings is among the listed exemptions. However, the exemptions come with conditions. Works must comply with applicable structural stability and fire safety requirements and cannot encroach on public land or obstruct fire tender movement. Heritage buildings remain subject to heritage conservation permissions wherever required. NDMC clarified that the exemptions do not permit unauthorised construction, additional floors, changes in land use or violations of sanctioned plans, setbacks and other statutory conditions. Owners, architects and engineers will remain responsible for structural defects arising from exempt works.
The move comes a day after NDMC chairman Manoj Kumar Dwivedi said a lack of awareness and clarity was often prompting building users to apply for permissions for work that did not require them. In some cases, he said, they faced harassment at the hands of enforcement officials. Dwivedi said the civic body would distinguish structural additions and alterations from routine maintenance and non-structural renovation, clarifying which works were exempt and which required prior approval.
