Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday gave his nod to the draft plan for the regularisation of unauthorised construction built before December 31, 2019.

The draft plan would be uploaded to the government website for suggestions and feedback for the next one month before being presented before the state cabinet and after a sanction from the cabinet, it will be placed at the Jharkhand Assembly.

The Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011, was notified for the regularisation of unauthorised construction done in urban areas through a regularisation fee, but a large number of people could not take advantage of this opportunity.

Again, a scheme to regularise unauthorised construction was notified in 2019 by the then state government, but according to the information received from various organisations, this scheme also could not be particularly effective in providing relief to the general public due to various glitches.

“In light of the above points, the need was felt that once again action should be taken to regularise the unauthorised construction by keeping it within the ambit of structural stability and planning criteria. In the above perspective, using the power given under section 590 (1) and Section 434 of the Jharkhand Municipal Act 2011, the state government has proposed a plan to regularise unauthorised constructions. Under the scheme, residential and non-residential buildings constructed before December 31, 2019, will be regularised. To make this scheme more effective and simple, suggestions and feedback will also be sought from people for the next one month,” said a release issued by the chief minister’s secretariat on Saturday. The draft has several restrictions for the regularisation of the constructed structures.

“The height of the building can be up to 15 metres but the structure should be of four storey (G+3) only and the plot area should be up to 500sq metres (up to 100 per cent of plinth area) while those plots whose area is above 500sq metre (up to 75 per cent of plinth area or 500sq metre whichever is less),” said a senior official in the state urban development department. Those wishing to regularise their structures would have to pay a fee.

“Separate charges have been fixed for residential and non-residential buildings. While Rs 50 per square metre has been fixed for residential buildings located in nagar panchayat areas and Rs 75 per square metre for non-residential ones, Rs 75 per square metre has been fixed for residential and Rs 100 per square metre for non-residential buildings located in the municipal council and Rs 100 per square metre for residential and Rs 150 per square metre for non-residential located in municipal corporation areas.

After a delegation of the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) met the chief minister in October, the government formed a ten-member high-level committee to prepare a draft for the regularisation of unauthorised constructions in urban areas.

The high-level committee prepared the draft for regularising the unauthorised constructions done in urban areas of the state after studying the best practices adopted in other states.

According to FJCCI president Kishore Mantri, there are over five lakh such unauthorised constructions comprising both residential and commercial plots in the state which will benefit from the decision.