Haryana to Blacklist 18 Architects for Issuing Illegal Occupancy Certificates

                Gurgaon: Almost three months after they were 
blacklisted by the director of the department of 
town and country planning (DTCP), the 
Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) 
has 
taken action against 18 architects involved in 
issuing occupancy certificates (OC) for 
buildings with four floors, violating the govt's 
guidelines.
The chief town planner of the HSVP has now 
written to the senior officials of the information 
technology department ordering removal of 
the blacklisted architects' IDs from the online 
building plan approval system.

In addition, a detailed report on the removal 
process is expected to be submitted soon for 
further review by the DTCP director.
A senior HSVP official said, "These architects, 
responsible for unlawfully certifying multiple 
residential structures, have been blacklisted 
and their details will soon be uploaded on the 
HSVP website."
In July, the director had blacklisted these 
architects and written to the council of 
architecture, requesting the cancellation of the 
registration of these architects.
The process of cancelling their registration is 
currently under review by the council and it is 
expected to take a few months.
The architects approved OCs for buildings with 
four floors and stilt parking, bypassing 
regulations set by the authorities.

The HSVP had already placed restrictions on 
the construction of four floors in Feb 2023.
Despite this, these architects issued OCs under 
the Self-Certification Rules without ensuring 
proper compliance with building norms. They 
also issued OCs for buildings that didn't 
have sanctioned plans for four floors.
Many of these structures had not even 
deposited essential fees like floor-area ratio 
(FAR) and external development charges 
(EDC), making their OC issuance illegal.
During an investigation, about 58 houses were 
found to have received OCs in violation of 
rules. The then town planner had listed these 
properties, prompting the current action 
against 
the architects.
The blacklisted architects include Anuj Yadav, 
Saurabh Kathuria, Pankaj Kumar, Himani 
Gupta, Amit Bhardwaj, Krishana, Ganendra 
Kumar, Manveer Bhadana, Vikrant Pundir, Arun 
Kumar, Ravi, Prabhat Kumar, Gaurav Singla, 
Puneet Kochar, Rohit Chugh, Ujjwal Saini, 
Neeraj Dixit and Ritika Anand.
These architects face an uncertain future as 
the council of architecture continues its 
investigation into their misconduct.


Source : Times of India