Making a slew of announcements in the House, Municipal Administration and Rural Development Minister S.P. Velumani said, presently, local bodies were empowered to grant planning permission to residential buildings with a constructed area of up to 4,000 sq.ft only.

Suitable laws

This restriction would be eased and suitable legislation brought in to enable local bodies to grant approvals for the construction of buildings beyond 4,000 sq ft. Likewise, civic bodies would be vested with the authority to grant planning permission to commercial buildings beyond the prevailing stipulation of up to 2,000 sq.ft.

Time frame

The local bodies will be mandated to grant the planning permission within a specified time frame, failing which the permission shall be deemed to have been granted.

The government has also proposed to make it mandatory to apply for plan permissions only through the online mode.

If the local bodies do not decide on the building layout applications made online within 30 days, the land owners can consider that the applications have been approved and can commence construction work.

Relevant Acts would be amended to facilitate these decisions.