Green Channel to give building permissions

Hyderabad, Oct 19 (INN): The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Monday announced that it will launch a 'Green Channel' for automatic approval of building permissions from October 20 in its Zonal Offices / Circle Offices. The Green Channel initiative has been taken to simplify the procedure for grant of building permits on the basis of self- certification by owners / registered architects. This has been done in accordance with the recommendations of the Administration Reforms Commission-II and the consequential orders of Government of India.

According to GHMC officials, the initiative helps to incentivize the development of the built environment, ease grant of building permissions, and introduce transparency and accountability. The owners / builders will get expeditious approval of building permissions within 4 days of submission of application. The salient features of the Green Channel will enable applicants to obtain building permissions from Zonal Offices / Circle offices in 4 clear working days in plots up to 1000 sq mtrs of area and height up to Ground + 3 floors ( up to 12 mtrs excluding parking floors)

Another important aspect is that anybody can apply for building permissions under Green Channel while the application forms for the unique facility are available at Citizen Service Centres or can be downloaded from GHMC website www.ghmc.gov.in. The applicants can also file their applications at Citizen Service Centre counter in all Circle offices and there will be no additional fees and charges to be paid by the applicants for obtaining permissions through Green Channel.

The GHMC has also made the procedure simple for applicants.

According to the GHMC, the applicants must get plans made by Licensed Technical Personnel viz., Architects registered with HMDA / GHMC / Council of Architecture or Engineers / Surveyors registered with GHMC to ensure conformity to Master Plan / Zoning Regulations / Building Rules and Regulations and orders and circulars issued by the Government from time to time.

On completion of the necessary scrutiny and certification of building plans by the Licensed Technical Personnel the applicants shall submit their plans through the Licensed Technical Personnel at Citizen Service Counter in the Citizen Service Centres of concerned Circle offices of GHMC in full form duly enclosing all relevant documents with payment of prescribed fee in full in the form of two DDs (one to an amount of Rs 10,000 and other to the remaining balance amount in the name of Commissioner, GHMC).

The plans will be scrutinized by the concerned Town Planning officials at the Circle offices / Zonal Offices and after approval of Deputy Commissioners / Zonal Commissioners. Permissions will be given within 4 clear working days pending post site inspection. After issuing permission under Green Channel the concerned TP Staff will inspect the site within 15 days and corroborate all details in the application and confirms the permission on file to the Competent Authority, that is, the concerned Zonal Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner as the case may be. Licensed Technical Personnel viz., Architects registered with HMDA / GHMC / Council of Architecture or Engineers / Surveyors registered with GHMC are eligible for submitting the applications under Green Channel as per their eligibility. Moreover other architects /engineers/ surveyors willing to register themselves with the GHMC can apply to GHMC for necessary registration.

Violations of the Green Channel rules also invite penal actions against the Licensed Technical Personnel (Architects/Engineers/ Surveyors). After permission is issued the concerned TP staff will inspect the site and during the inspection if permission is found to have be obtained through misrepresentation, falsifying facts, or in any other way misleading GHMC then the permission granted will be cancelled forthwith.

The Licensed Technical Personnel are expected to give a quarterly report on the progress of construction. Failure to submit a report, or submitting incorrect factual report will lead to forfeit of bank guarantee and cancellation of license for repeated non-compliance.

Penal action will also be taken against the Town Planning Staff if violations are detected. This would, in case the TP staff fails to process the application and inspect the site within stipulated time period a penalty of Rs50 per day will be levied on the concerned staff according to Citizen Charter. The Deputy Commissioners and Zonal CPs are personally responsible to issue or reject the permission within 4 days. Rejection should be given in a speaking endorsement with valid reasons.