Now more fine will have to be paid for building violation. The Law Ministry of the Central Government has approved the proposal to impose heavy fines. In such a situation, now more money will be deducted from the people for building violation, while recently the estate department has increased the collector rate.
Notices of building violation and misuse are sent from time to time by the estate department. Most of the notices are sent to commercial buildings, even at this time thousands of notices are pending. Till now the fine of up to 500 per square feet per month has been increased to 1 lakh per square feet per month.
Chandigarh administration had sent the proposal in 2022
This amendment has been made after the proposal sent by the Chandigarh Administration in 2022. Under this, the Capital of Act Punjab 1952 has been amended. The amended law will now be presented in Parliament for final approval.
Earlier, the traders’ organizations of the city are demanding to reduce the fine. Along with this, they are also demanding amendment in the building bylaws. But instead of giving relief, the problems of the traders have increased.
The estate office last revised the penalty in 2007, when it was increased from Rs 20 to Rs 500 per square foot per month. Since then, more than 3 thousand notices have been issued for various building violations in the city.
According to the amendment of the Law Ministry, under Section 13, any person who violates the provisions of Section 4 (2) or Section 6 can be fined from Rs 500 to Rs 1 lakh if found guilty.
Fine will be Rs 4000 per day
If the violation continues even after the first day, an additional fine of Rs 4,000 per day can also be imposed. However, the total penalty will not exceed 20 percent of the total value of the property, and it will be decided based on the collector rate prevailing on the valuation date.
The violations covered under Section 13 include architectural features related to the height or frontage of buildings.
Construction of detached or semi-detached buildings and related areas, restricted constructions such as shops, workshops, warehouses, factories or buildings with special architecture, maintaining the height and position of walls, fences, bushes or other structural elements, illegal change in land use for any purpose other than construction are included in the category of violations.
Amendment made in Section 14
Along with this, amendment has also been made in Section 14, which applies to violations related to tree protection order and advertising control order. The fine for these violations has also been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1 lakh. If the guilty person continues to violate even after this, an additional fine of up to Rs 4,000 per day can also be imposed on him.
This step of the administration is being considered a strict initiative towards preventing irregular construction and land misuse in the city. On the other hand, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Sanjeev Chaddha, says that the amount of fine has been increased considerably, which is wrong and his association will strongly oppose it. Building bylaws should be amended.
