Punjab withdraws 2025 unified building rules, restores old regulatory framework
The move comes ahead of Assembly elections and months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed key provisions of the 2025 rules while hearing a petition in December last year.
PTC News Desk: In a policy reversal, the Punjab Government on Monday scrapped the controversial Punjab Unified Building Rules, 2025, bringing back the earlier system amid rising legal and environmental concerns. The 2025 rules had proposed relaxations such as allowing taller buildings, including stilt-plus-four-floor constructions.
The move comes ahead of Assembly elections and months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed key provisions of the 2025 rules while hearing a petition in December last year. The court had also directed that violations under earlier rules should not be regularised. This is the second major rollback by the Housing Department after withdrawing the land pooling policy—both originally aimed at generating quick revenue for the financially strained state.
Officials said that with the 2025 rules now withdrawn, construction in Punjab will again follow the Punjab Municipal Building Bylaws, 2018, and the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Building Rules, 2021. A senior official noted that after the High Court stay, approvals for building plans and related work had nearly come to a halt, causing delays and inconvenience.
The 2025 policy had aimed to simplify approvals and boost the real estate sector. However, it drew criticism for provisions like increased building height, higher ground coverage, and relaxed floor area ratios, which were expected to raise revenue through higher charges. Urban planners and environmental experts warned that these changes could strain infrastructure, worsen traffic, impact fire safety, and increase pressure on groundwater.
Petitioners, including Harbinder Singh Sekhon (93) and Jasinder Sekhon (61), argued in court that the rules would lead to unplanned construction and overcrowding in residential areas. They also said the public was not properly consulted and alleged that the Real Estate Advisory Committee drafting the policy was dominated by private developers, ignoring wider public interest.
It was also highlighted that the rules allowed stilt-plus-four buildings even on plots along 40-foot-wide roads and permitted up to 100% ground coverage for some commercial buildings in central areas.