Construction of multi-storey buildings in colonies banned, buildings without parking space to be seized

Jaipur: Rajasthan high court has banned construction of multi-storey buildings in residential colonies. Mixed land use (construction of a shop in a house) will be considered illegal. Multi-storey buildings that don’t have adequate parking space will be seized. The norms are for six cities of the state – Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Bikaner and Udaipur.

In a landmark judgment, the double bench of Justice Sangeet Lodha and Justice Arun Bhansali said that masterplans are the bible of a city’s development and their ‘purity’ should not be tampered with.

The court’s Jodhpur bench had been hearing a petition in this regard for the past 12 years. The 257-page judgment came on Thursday.

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The court has asked the state government and local bodies to remove shops from houses and submit an abidance report to it by May 22.

Some of the important rulings in the judgment are as follow:

• A multi-storey building cannot be constructed by compounding two separate plots.

• A multi-storey building should be away from residential colonies.

• The judgement has paved the way for local bodies to build new masterplans, but they will have to abide by the norms laid down by the court.

• Masterplans will have zonal development plans. Each zone should have clearly earmarked space for community buildings, roads, entertainment spots, parks, markets and schools.

• The high court banned minor-land use change in a city’s periphery area.

• Local bodies will have ensure green area on per person-basis. As per norms, nine square metre green area should be reserved per person.

The court has asked builders and housing societies to ensure adequate parking space in multi-storey buildings. Local bodies will issue a notice to buildings that lack parking space. If parking space is not restored even after receiving a notice, local bodies will be authorised to seize the buildings.