File picture of GMDA workers demolishing an unauthorised construction at Birubari

Nov. 22: Putting an end to the legal battle over revised building bylaws formulated by Dispur, Gauhati High Court today upheld the new norms.

A division bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice B.S. Reddy and Justice D. Biswas, today instructed Dispur to notify the revised bylaws without delay. It also asked the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) to consider all pending applications seeking construction permits under the new bylaws.

The bench issued the verdict after hearing a miscellaneous petition filed by the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers’ Association (Areida) against the high court’s restriction on the GMDA and the GMC with regard to processing of applications seeking permit for construction of buildings above two stories. The court imposed the restriction on April 10 while hearing of a suo motu case against mushrooming of illegal and unauthorised buildings in the city.

Besides its plea for lifting of restrictions on the issue of construction permits, Areida urged the court to instruct the GMDA and the GMC to consider the pending applications under the existing bylaws. The builders argued that since the revised bylaws had not been notified yet, applications filed earlier should be considered under the existing laws.

The court, however, rejected the plea, saying: “The development of Guwahati as well as other urban areas is for centuries and not for the present alone.”

A government lawyer said the court has found the revised bylaws suitable for balanced growth of the city in the coming years. He said Dispur has accorded top priority to structural safety of highrises in the revised norms.

According to the new rules, construction of apartments and highrises will be allowed only on plots of land measuring 4 kathas or more, instead of the present requirement of 3 kathas.

In case of apartments, the minimum width of the approach road has to be 8.5 meters, with adequate provision for parking of vehicles, in place of the present 6 meters. The amended bylaws also make basement parking mandatory and prohibit converting ground floor into parking space. Also, the buildings have to be at least 4.5 metres away from natural drainage channels.

The builders are likely to move the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict.

Expressing unhappiness over the verdict, Areida president P.K. Sharma told this correspondent that the builders and public were still unaware of the revised bylaws.

“There should have been a debate over the revised building bylaws. Many provisions under the new norms are objectionable. We are more shocked by the court’s instruction to the GMC and the GMDA to consider even the pending applications under the revised bylaws,” he said.