Not compromising on fire safety and structural safety standards of the buildings, Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved One-Time Settlement (OTS) of non-compoundable violations in case of unauthorised constructions that have come up in the state up to June 30, 2018.
The Cabinet approved for promulgation ‘The Punjab One-Time Voluntary Disclosure and Settlement of Violations of the Buildings Ordinance, 2018’ for all buildings constructed in violation of the building bylaws in the municipal areas as per the said cut-off date.
The move is aimed to ensure that unauthorized buildings, that have come up over the years, are aligned to the parking, fire and safety standards across the state as it is no longer feasible to demolish such buildings.
During the meeting, the Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu informed the meeting that the Department was also working on a separate policy for a one-time settlement for CLU (change of land use) violations, after the issue was raised by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
The Ordinance provides that any person, who has made a non-compoundable building violation till June 30, 2018, may disclose voluntarily such violation and apply online, along with photographs of the building, to the competent authority within a period of three months.
The applicant shall submit the requisite information, documents or plans and prescribed application fee thereafter within a period of two months.
It has been made clear that violation of land use, except conversion of shop-cum-flat to commercial, in the Town Planning or Building Schemes, Improvement Trust Schemes, Urban Estates, Industrial Focal Points or Schemes formulated under any other Act, Encroachment on any public or private land or on public space by virtue of any Scheme or Restricted areas under any Act prohibiting the construction of buildings in a particular area, would not be compoundable.
In case of non-residential building violations, except where fire safety and public safety or security and public convenience is compromised, will be similarly settled against composition fee of Rs 1,000 per sq ft of the total non-compoundable area in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, and Rs 600 per sq ft in other instances.
In case the applicant is unable to provide parking space, the applicant shall be liable to pay parking cess equivalent to the prevailing collector rate of land required to fulfil the shortage of ECS.