Explainer: Why Punjab’s S+4 building plan is contentious
THE Punjab Cabinet’s approval to ‘Unified Building Rules, 2025’ — paving the way for construction of stilt-plus-four floors (S+4) in new residential sectors and easing the norms for built-up spaces on residential and commercial properties — has triggered a debate on the rationale behind the move and its impact on the housing and civic infrastructure. The amended rules come months after Haryana’s controversial decision to allow the construction of S+4 buildings across the state. Unlike Haryana, Punjab has not imposed any condition of taking consent from neighbours.
A common refrain is that the new rules are oriented towards private builders and would result in higher population density and a surge in property prices.
The builders, on their part, claim the decision is of little use till the Punjab Apartment Ownership Act, 1985, is amended to allow floor-wise registry of residential plots.
Possible reasons behind the decision
For the cash-starved AAP government looking for avenues to fund populist schemes, allowing extra floors, coverage area and more floor area ratio (FAR) would mean inflow of more funds to the state exchequer as the beneficiaries have to pay for incentives as per the collector rates.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called it a step to ease the housing pressure in big cities. “We have also given the go-ahead for deemed approval of building plans for all new residential constructions. Empanelled architects will just submit building plans, which will be deemed as approved,” he said, adding that this would help curb corruption.
What are the changes
A plot measuring a minimum of 71 square yards can have the S+4 (height up to 17.5 metres) in new urban areas, but the minimum width of the approach road should be 30 feet wide. Earlier, only three floors were allowed.
To tackle the problem of parking in the already developed urban areas, the government has allowed stilt-plus-three floors (S+3) with a height up to 15 metres without any extra cost. The permissible height of all categories of buildings can be increased from 15 metres to 21 metres.
To end the “harassment of property owners in getting building plans approved”, all structures — residential and commercial — up to 21 metres high have been grouped as low-rise buildings. This means the owners would not be required to meet the stringent norms under the National Building Code and just require self-certification for building plan approval. No NOC would be needed from the fire department and the site map would be approved after self-certification by an empanelled architect.
Extra FAR varying between 5 per cent and 10 per cent has been allowed on payment as per the collector rates.
Solves or adds to the problem?
Questioning the concept of four floors and increasing the built-up area, experts feel that instead of addressing the civic infrastructure deficiencies, the rules have opened the door to vertical growth and higher population density that will only worsen the situation.
Jeet Kumar Gupta, a former Senior Town Planner, said, “The rules will outrightly benefit the builder lobby, making it impossible for individuals to gain because of high land costs. It would sacrifice community living at the cost of individual profiteering. Punjab should have studied the chaos, legal disputes and structural issues that have cropped up in Haryana cities like Panchkula and Gurugram by implementing the S+4 scheme. If the government really wants to create housing, it could have gone for group housing that allows enough open spaces.”
Former Chief Town Planner, Punjab, Gurpreet Singh, said that going by the tendency among builders to maximise the utilisation of land, the privacy of neighbours, adequate light and ventilation will be compromised. “The population of the state has crossed three crore and all the cities and towns are crying for attention. There should have been an infrastructure capacity audit instead of rushing with the rules,” he added.
However, Kulwant Singh, chairman of the Punjab chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), said the move will help people realise the value of their properties. “The new rules will help promote housing in other cities,” he added.
The rules are bound to throw up a fresh challenge for the authorities on the infrastructure front at a time when cities like Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, besides satellite towns, are struggling with overburdened sewage systems, poor solid waste management, shrinking green cover, traffic congestion and pollution.
Rules on independent floors
In Punjab, there is no provision of registry of independent floors under the Punjab Apartment Ownership Act, 1985, and subsequent rules do not allow floor-wise registry. The government would have to amend the rules to allow floor-wise registry so that the S+4 policy becomes attractive.
In Haryana, the Apartment Ownership Act, 1983, allows floor-wise registry on residential plots of 180 square yards or larger. For floor-wise registry, the property must be converted into an apartment building with a deed of apartment, which formalises ownership of the specific floor and a shared ownership of common areas like staircases.
In Chandigarh, there is ban on conversion of single residential units into apartments. The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently upheld the ban on conversion of single residential units into apartments, ruling that such modifications violate planning laws and the city’s heritage.
Political opposition
The Shiromani Akali Dal has alleged that the changes in bylaws have been introduced to “compensate” the builders’ lobby that had been “eyeing to acquire” land cheaply under the land pooling policy that the government was forced to withdraw following statewide protests. The new rules would destroy Punjab’s towns and cities, it said.
Congress leader Pargat Singh alleged that the government “wanted to appease” the builders after failing to implement the land pooling policy, under which it had targeted to acquire around 65,000 acres.
Punjab