To prevent corrupt practices and ease the process of granting building plan approvals, the Tamil Nadu government has announced a zero-tolerance approach to delays.

Warning Town Planning Officers of disciplinary action in case of any administrative negligence, manual intervention or failure in enforcing online processes while granting building plan approvals, P. Madhusudhan Reddy, Director of Municipal Administration, said clearances must be executed within the stipulated statutory timelines.

“All fee related to approval must be accepted through online payment modules only. Applicants, architects, or structural engineers or any third person are not required to appear in person for resolving clarifications or queries,” he said in a note issued to all Commissioners of Corporations and Municipalities on May 26.

Mr. Reddy said the entire interaction framework should be executed online and in a transparent manner.

As specifically directed by the government, the guidelines came with zero tolerance for delays. Any failure to enforce online transparency protocols would lead to disciplinary action, he said.

The ‘Planning Permission’ and ‘Building Permits’ should be issued within specific time-based guidelines, under strict supervision of superior authorities, “so that the common public are not put to any inconvenience or hardship”.

Reiterating the compliance to online processes, Mr. Reddy said Assistant Engineers (Planning)/ Junior Engineers (Planning)/any other official of the Municipality/Corporation shall not call the applicant, registered engineer or architect to visit the office in person, and all scrutiny should be done only online.

Any communication/grievances shall also be made only through the online portal, he said.

Emphasising the time limit for granting approval for Category-I and Category-II applications, Mr. Reddy said any deviation from the instructions would be viewed seriously.