The Hindu : New Delhi News : DDA takes major policy decisions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

DDA takes major policy decisions

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 24. The Delhi Development Authority today took a number of landmark decisions pertaining to easing of residential building construction procedures, doing away with the requirement of Delhi Urban Arts Commission completion certificate in the case of group housing, commercial buildings and institutes, defining norms for recreational clubs and assured career promotion for its employees at a meeting presided by the Lieutenant-Governor, B.L. Joshi.

Giving details later, the Principal Commissioner-cum-Secretary of DDA, V.M. Bansal, said one of the major decisions pertains to residential construction on plots with an area of up to 500 square metres. Henceforth, owners will not have to do the rounds of DDA offices as most of the powers have been vested in architects. The architects will be able to carry out construction up to the completion stage by submitting forms and certificates pertaining to structural safety, water harvesting provisions, power company clearance for lifts and mandatory permissions where the buildings fall in zones governed by the Archaeological Survey of India or the National Airports Authority rules. "Following submission of necessary forms at a special counter at the reception, they would be able to start building activity the same day.''

Noting that the architects would also have to notify DDA when the building reaches the plinth level, Mr Bansal said a joint inspection with DDA officials will now be only required when there is a change in the sanctioned building plan or when the completion certificate is to be taken. "Even for that we would try and fix the date of joint inspection the same day.''

However, he warned, unscrupulous architects or building owners would also face penal action. While the architects would be debarred from future dealings with DDA and would be reported for deregistration to the Council of Architects, the owners would have to get the violations rectified at their own cost and risk in case of a deviation from laid norms.

The DDA has also decided to do away with the penalty levied on those institutions which had been allotted land by it but had not carried out the requisite percentage of construction in the stipulated five year period. However, this decision would only benefit about a dozen institutions. At the meeting, Mr Bansal said, it was also decided that the provision of obtaining of completion certificate by the commercial establishments and institutions from the DUAC be done away.And in case of those being allotted residential plots in lieu of acquired land, it was decided that as against past practice, now in case an allottee does not like a plot the cancelled plot will not be held back and would be put up in the very next draw. The agency today also defined the norms for recreational clubs which had been allotted land by it. And another important decision pertained to around 11,000 Class IV employees of DDA, who fell in the category of work-charged employees earlier. It was decided that the period of their work-charged employment would now be considered as regular employment for the purpose of assured career promotion.

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