Sale of flats built flouting norms near Kumarhatti comes to fore

The unauthorised sale of flats in sid-km radius between Kheel Jhasli village and Kainthari near Kumarhatti has become a cause for concern for the revenue authorities as the Town and Country Planning (TCP) norms and Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, are being violated.

Several multi-storey buildings constructed there have also drawn the attention of the Himachal High Court, following which the area was brought under the TCP Department regulation through a notification issued in 2023.

A fresh case of unauthorised sale of a flat at Kheel Jhasli village, near Kumarhatti, has come to fore where a builder has reportedly constructed several residential flats in seven–eight storey buildings without obtaining the mandatory no objection certificate (NOC) from the TCP Department.

As per the court ruling and subsequent notification issued by the state government, no registration or sale deed is legally permissible in the area unless complete TCP approvals and building completion certificates are obtained. Despite these strict directions, a sale deed was executed on March 29 in favour of a woman by a builder, who declared that the construction and sale of the flat complied with the TCP norms. No building completion certificate, however, was obtained in violation of the TCP Act, Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, as per a complaint made by a local resident with the revenue authorities.

Patwari Yatin says that a complaint regarding an unauthorised sale deed executed between a builder and a woman at Kheel Jashli village has come to the notice of the Revenue Department. “Its mutation will not be entered into the revenue records, as it violated the TCP norms as well as the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972,” he adds.

He says that such builders are also brought under the purview of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, if they sell more than eight flats. As per an inquiry, this was his fourth sale deed in that building, he adds.

Yatin says that flats constructed on undivided land having common ownership are also facing problems as non-Himachali buyers can’t get permission under Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, to purchase flats.

Builders conveniently dupe non-Himachali buyers by executing lease deeds of such flats in the said area in violation of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms, Act, 1972, though they have no legal sanctity.

Himachal Tribune