Telangana shifts building approvals to third-party inspections

The Telangana government is implementing a partial relaxation in building regulations by introducing third-party inspections for issuing building approvals and occupancy certificates. This move aligns with the Central government's deregulation policy aimed at reducing government control across sectors. A government order has amended building rules to permit third-party inspections for two property categories.

For approved layouts with plots up to 500 square meters and buildings up to 10 meters in height, empanelled third parties can submit post-inspection reports. The municipal commissioner will then grant a work commencement certificate or reject the application, eliminating the need for town planning officials' intervention. In the second category, occupancy certificates for plots up to 300 square meters and buildings up to 10 meters in height will be issued based on third-party inspection reports.

However, individual buildings on plots up to 200 square meters with a height of up to seven meters will still need to obtain an occupancy certificate, though this will be optional. Properties will be randomly assigned to empanelled consultants through an automated system to prevent selection bias. The municipal authorities will compensate the consultants for their services.

Regulatory oversight will be limited to random inspections of 10% of the cleared properties. The new system will be uniformly applied across all civic bodies in the state. A portal for registering and empaneling licensed technical persons is being developed, leading to the formal implementation of the system. The Director of Town & Country Planning has been authorized to implement the changes and integrate them into the online building approval system.