The state government on Tuesday decided to make Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s occupancy certificate mandatory for electricity and water connection to new buildings besides duly approved map and planning report to curb illegal constructions.

The decision was taken in a high-level meeting convened under chairmanship of chief secretary Ashok Kumar Sinha. The secretary of the urban development and housing department, Patna district magistrate, PMC commissioner and Patna superintendent of police attended it.

The meeting was called to formulate a comprehensive strategy for action against illegal mushrooming of buildings in the city in light of the famous Narendra Mishra case. The division bench of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Vikash Jain had on May 10 last year ordered that no apartment complex or multi-storeyed building could be constructed beyond 11m till further order unless the width of the road abutting it was at least 20ft wide. It had also asked the state government to file an affidavit, stating its plan of action with regard to enforcement of municipal laws and building bye-laws and the nature of steps to be taken to prevent recurrence of violations. The court demanded the affidavit from the state government again in January.

A senior state government officer said: “The meeting was convened on Tuesday to chalk out the plan of action against the unauthorised construction activities, which would be included in the affidavit. The chief secretary would issue detailed instruction to the departments concerned separately in this regard.”

Of late, the civic body has started acting against several high-rises in the city after several months of exhaustive exercise to check the legitimacy of several thousands of under-construction buildings. The court of Patna municipal commissioner Kuldip Narayan has recently ordered partial demolition of Orchid Mall (G+5) and Nutan Plaza (G+8). It has also ordered prohibition on any work in the ambitious City Centre project of Ambuja Reality (G+17) and cancelled its map. Some serious allegations against these buildings were found to be true.