No permission required for renovating buildings: MCD

New Delhi, Jun 20 (UNI) In a bid to clear the confusion over whether permission of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was required before renovating existing structures, the MCD today clarified that no such consent was required for certain kinds of renovation work.

According to an MCD release, no permission was required for whitewashing or repair of walls, putting fresh roof on houses or constructing floor, construction of sunshades which did not extend beyond 75 cm from the house, reconstruction of parts of the house destroyed during a storm, fire, rain or earthquake as per the norms stipulated in the Master Plan and construction of internal partitions provided they met the requisite norms under building bylaws.

At the same time, the MCD said, the construction of the building should have been done with its sanction or it should have been constructed before April 7, 1958, before the MCD was set up.

The MCD clarification comes shortly after Commissioner A K Nigam explained to the Standing Committee that under the recently-notified Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006, there was no bar on carrying out renovation, painting and other work on a house.

The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act provides for a one year moratorium on the process of demolition of unauthorised constructions that came up in Delhi prior to January 1, 2006.

However, since the law coming into force last month, an element of uncertainty has prevailed over whether MCD sanction was required for renovation work on existing structures.

UNI AR LR HT1927