BIHAR BUILDING BYE-LAWS, 2014

BIHAR BUILDING BYE-LAWS, 2014 issued by URBAN DEVELOPMENT & HOUSING DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF BIHAR

The State Government may notify certain areas on its own or on the recommendation Of the Planning Authority or Municipalities, where these bye-laws shall not apply.

In case Master Plan/Development Plans/Zonat Plans are notified by the authority subsequent to the publication of these bye-laws, the corresponding provisions made in the master plan/development plans/zonal plans shall override the provisions made in these bye-laws.

These bye-laws shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Bihar Gazette.

DEFINITION

1. “Act”– The Act of the Local Body/Authority concerned.

2. “Advertising Sign”– Any surface or structure with characters, letters or illustrations applied thereto and displayed in any manner whatsoever outdoors for the purpose of advertising or giving information or to attract the public to any place, person, public performance, article, or merchandise, and which surface or structure is attached to, forms part of, or is connected with any building, or is fixed to a tree or to the ground or to any pole, screen, fence or hoarding or displayed in space, or in or over any water body included in the jurisdiction of the Authority.

3. “Authority”– The local body having jurisdiction over the matter referred to, hereinafter called the Authority.

4. “Application”– An application made in such form as may be prescribed by the Authority from time to time.

5. “Area”– In relation to a building means the superficies of a horizontal section thereof made at the plinth level inclusive of the external walls and of such portions of the party walls as belong to the building.

6. “Air-conditioning”– A process of treating the air to control simultaneously its temperature, humidity, cleanliness, and distribution to meet the requirement of an enclosed space.

7. “Addition and/or Alteration”– A structural change including an addition to the area or change in height or the removal of part of the building, or any change to the structure, such as the construction or removal or cutting into of any wall or part of a wall, partition, column, beam, joist, floor including a mezzanine floor or other support, or a change to or closing of any required means of access ingress or egress or a change to fixtures or equipment” as provided in these Bye-Laws.

8. “Amenity”– Includes roads, street, open spaces, parks, recreational grounds, playgrounds, gardens, water supply, electric supply, street lighting, sewerage, drainage, public works and other utilities, services, and conveniences.

9. “Approved”– As approved/sanctioned by the Authority under these Bye-Laws.

10. “Balcony”– A horizontal projection, cantilevered or otherwise including a parapet” handrail, balustrade, to serve as a passage or sit out place.

11. “Barsati”– A habitable room/rooms on the roof of the building with or without toilet/kitchen.

12. “Basement or Cellar”– The lower story of a building, below or partly below the ground level.

13. “Building”– A structure constructed with any materials whatsoever for any purpose, whether used for human habitation or not and includes:-
i) Foundation, plinth, walls, floors, roofs, chimneys, plumbing and building services, fixed platforms etc.
ii) Verandahs, balconies, cornices, projections etc.
iii) Parts of a building or anything affixed thereto;
iv) Any wall enclosing or intended to enclose any land or space, sign and outdoor display structures; etc.,
v) Tanks constructed or fixed for storage of chemicals or chemicals in liquid form and for storage of water, effluent, swimming pool, ponds etc.,
vi) All types of buildings as defined in (a) to (q) below, except tents, shamianas and tarpaulin shelters erected temporarily for temporary purposes and ceremonial occasions, shall be considered to be “buildings”.

a. “Assembly Building”– A building or part thereof, where groups of people congregate or gather for amusement, recreation, social, religious, patriotic, civil, travel and similar purposes and this includes buildings of drama and cinemas theatres, drive-in theatres, assembly halls, city halls, town halls, auditoria, exhibition halls, museums, “mangal karyalayas”, skating rinks, gymnasia, restaurants, eating or boarding houses, places of worship, dance halls, clubs, gymkhanas and road, railways, air, sea or other public transportation stations and recreation piers.

b. “Business Building”– Includes any building or part thereof used principally for transaction of business and/or keeping of accounts and records including offices, banks, professional establishments, court houses etc., if their principal function is transaction of business and/or keeping of books and records.

c. “Education Building”– Includes a building exclusively used for a school or college, recognized by the appropriate Board or University, or any other Competent Authority involving assembly for instruction, education or recreation incidental to educational use, and including a building for such other uses as a research institution. It shall also include quarters for essential staff required to reside in the premises, and the building used as a hostel captive to an educational institution whether situated on its campus or outside.

d. “Hazardous Building”– Includes a building or part thereof used for:
i) Storage, handling, manufacture of processing of radioactive substances or highly combustible or explosive materials or of products which are liable to burn with extreme rapidity and/or producing poisonous fumes or explosive emanations;
ii) Storage, handling, manufacture or processing of which involves highly corrosive, toxic or noxious alkalis, acids, or other liquids, gases or chemicals producing flame, fumes and explosive mixtures etc. or which result in division of matter into fine particles capable of spontaneous
ignition.

e. “Industrial Building”– Includes a building or part thereof wherein products or material are fabricated, assembled or processed, such as assembly plants, laboratories, power plants, refineries, gas plants, mills, dairies and factories etc.,

f. “Institutional Building”– Includes a building constructed by Government, SemiGovernment Organizations or Registered Trusts and used for medical or other treatment, or for an auditorium or complex for cultural and allied activities or for an hospice, care of persons suffering from physical or mental illness, handicap, disease or infirmity, care of orphans, abandoned women, children and infants, convalescents, destitute or aged persons and for penal or correctional detention with restricted liberty of the inmates ordinarily providing sleeping accommodation and includes dharamshalas, hospitals, sanatoria, custodial and penal institutions such as jails, prisons, mental hospitals, houses of correction, detention and reformatories etc.,

g. “Mercantile Building”– Includes a building or part thereof used as shops, stores or markets for display and sale of wholesale and or retail goods or merchandise, including office, storage and service facilities incidental thereto and located in the same building.

h. “Multi-Storeyed Building or High Rise Building”– A building above 4 stories, and/or a building exceeding 15 meters or more in height above the average level of the front road.

i. “Multi-Level Car Parking Building”– A building partly below ground level having two or more basements or above ground level, primarily to be used for parking of cars, scooters or any other type of light motorized vehicle.

j. “Office Building (premises)”– includes a building or premises or part thereof whose sole or principal use is for an office or for official purposes or clerical work. “Officer purposes” include the purpose of administration, clerical work, handling money, telephone, telegraph, and computer operation; and “clerical work” includes writing,
bookkeeping, sorting papers, typing, filing, duplicating, punching cards or tapes, machine calculations, drawing of matter for publication and editorial preparation of matter for publication.
k. “Special Building”– Includes assembly, industrial, hazardous buildings, buildings used for wholesale establishments, hotels, hostels, centrally air-conditioned buildings and which exceed 15 meters in height and have a total built-up area exceeding 600 sq m.

l. “Storage Building”– A building or part thereof used primarily for storage or shelter of goods, wares, merchandise and includes a building used as a warehouse, cold storage, freight depot, transit shed, storehouse, public garage, hanger, truck terminal, grain elevator, barn, and stables.

m. “Wholesale Establishment”– An establishment wholly or partly engaged in wholesale trade and manufacture, wholesale outlets, including related storage facilities, warehouses, and establishments engaged in truck transport, including truck transport booking agencies.

n. “Residential Building”– includes a building in which sleeping and living accommodation is provided for normal residential purposes, with cooking facilities and includes one or more family dwellings, apartment houses, flats, and private garages of such buildings.

o. “Detached Building”– Includes a building with walls and roofs independent of any other building and with open spaces on all sides within the same plot.

p. “Semi-detached Building”– A building detached on three sides with open space as specified in these regulations.

q. “Mixed Land Use Building”– A building partly used for non-residential activities and partly for residential purposes.

r. “Unsafe Building”– Includes a building which:
i) Is structurally unsafe, or
ii) Is unsanitary, or
iii) Is not provided with adequate means of ingress or egress or
iv) Constitutes a fire hazard or
v) Is dangerous to human life or
vi) In relation to its existing use, constitutes a hazard to safety or health or public welfare by maintenance, dilapidation or abandonment.

Note: – All unsafe buildings /structures will require to be restored by repairs, demolition or dealt with as directed by the Authority. The relevant provisions of the Act shall apply for the procedure to be followed by the Authority in taking action against such buildings.

14. “Building Line”- The line upto which the plinth of building adjoining a street or an
extension of a street or on a future street may lawfully extend and includes the lines
prescribed, if any, in any scheme and/or development plan.
15. “Building Height”- The vertical distance measured
i) In the case of flat roofs from the average level of the front road and
continuance to the highest point of the building.
ii) In case of pitched roofs upto the point where the external surface of the outer
wall intersects the finished surface of the sloping roof and
iii) In the case of gables facing the road. the mid point between the eaves level
and the ridge. Architectural features serving no other function except that of
decoration shall be excluded for the purpose of taking heights. The height of
the building shall be taken upto the terrace level for the purpose of fire safety
requirement.
16. “Canopy”-shall mean a cantilevered projection from the face of the wall over an
entry to the building at the lintel or slab level provided that:
i) It shall not project beyond the plot line.
ii) It shall not be lower than 2.3 m. or 7’- 6” when measured from the ground.
iii) There shall be no structure on it and the top shall remain open to sky.
17. “Chajja”- A sloping or horizontal structural overhang provided over openings on
external walls for protection from the weather.
18. “Cabin”- A non-residential enclosure constructed of non-load bearing partitions.
19. “Chimney”- A construction by means of which a flue is formed for the purpose of
carrying products of combustion to the open air and includes a chimneystack and flue
pipe.
20. “Conversion”- The change from one occupancy to another occupancy or any change
in building structure or part thereof resulting in a change of space and use requiring
additional occupancy certificate.
21. “Courtyard”- A space permanently open to sky, enclosed fully or partially by
buildings and may be at ground level or any other level within or adjacent to a
building.

In exercise of the powers conferred under section-321 of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2007 and section – 81 (2)(w) of the Bihar Urban Planning and Development Act, 2012 and in supersession and modification of the all the existing rules on the subject, the Government of Bihar do hereby notify the Bihar Building Bye-laws, 2014, which shall be enforceable to all the Municipal Areas, since the date of publication and to Gram Panchayat Areas lying within a Planning Area (s), Metropolitan Area (after declaration) in the manner prescribed in these Bye-Laws.

These bye-laws may be called the Bihar Building Byelaws 2014.

Quick View on Salient Features-:

The government in Bihar has approved the new building bylaws according to which there will be no bar on the height of houses built on 40 ft wide new roads and 30 ft wide old roads. The rules have been formulated for the management of building construction activities in the State. The new bylaws also call for instant approval of a map to carry out construction on a plot measuring 300 sq m, having a building height of up to 10 m.

The state cabinet will approve the new bylaws by the end of this month and the blueprints of the buildings will be authorized through an online single-window system. Suggestions and approvals of a few departments and the opinion of builders have been considered before drafting the new building bylaws. These bylaws will benefit builders and investors alike.

The new laws have increased the parking and open space areas from the existing 25-35 percent to 50 percent. Specific provisions have been made to boost construction on government and municipal lands for affordable housing under the public-private partnership method.

T.B.C.