Building plan approval stuck — RTI to Town Planning

Suresh owns a 200-square-metre plot in a tier-2 city municipal corporation. In January 2026 he uploaded his G+2 residential building plan on the state's Online Building Permission System and got an application reference number. The portal showed “Under Scrutiny.” Three months passed, then six. The local municipal office sent him from the Town Planning wing to the Fire Department to the Pollution Control Board, each saying the file was “with another table.” No sanction, no rejection, no communication.

Suresh is not alone. Across India, building plan approval is the single most common municipal delay a middle-class family hits. The boards outside the municipal office promise single-window clearance in 30 days. The reality on the ground is months of silence, files that “go missing,” and NOCs that no one tracks. The builder or self-builder pays the scrutiny fee, sits on the portal, and waits.

The silence has a legal cure. The Right to Information Act, 2005 lets you ask the public authority, in writing, for the exact status of your file, the scrutiny report, the NOC tracker, and the reason for the delay. This guide shows you how, using only verified facts about the building-plan sanction framework as it stands today, with sample questions, a ready letter, and the appeal ladder if the PIO stays quiet.

A building plan sanction is the written approval given by the local urban local body — the Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Development Authority, or Town Planning Officer — to construct, reconstruct, or materially alter a building on a given plot. Without it, any construction is unauthorised and can be demolished, with the cost sometimes recovered from the owner. Building sanction is a State and local-body subject, governed by your State's Town and Country Planning Act and Municipal Act (for example, the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, or the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act 1980), and by the bye-laws the local body has notified.

The umbrella standard is the Model Building Bye-Laws (MBBL) 2016, published by the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), which now sits under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). MBBL 2016 is the revised version of MBBL 2004. Its Chapter 13 streamlines building plan approvals for the Ease of Doing Business reforms: online building permission systems, risk-based classification of buildings, and single-window NOC integration. The bye-laws were circulated to all States and UTs, and 22 States and UTs had undertaken a comprehensive revision of their bye-laws as of the TCPO report.

For real estate projects (plots above 500 square metres or more than 8 apartments), a second layer applies: the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA, Act 16 of 2016). Under §3, the promoter must register the project with RERA before advertising, marketing, or booking. Under §4, the registration application must enclose an authenticated copy of the approvals and the commencement certificate, plus the sanctioned plan, layout plan, and specifications as sanctioned by the competent authority. Under §5, the Authority must decide the registration within 30 days, with deemed registration if no decision is taken. Under §11(3)(a), the promoter must make the sanctioned plans, layout, and specifications available to allottees at booking. Under §14, the promoter must adhere to the sanctioned plans, and any major modification needs two-thirds allottee consent.

To ask a sharp question, you need to know what happens to your drawing after you upload it. A typical Online Building Permission System (OBPS) workflow looks like this:

1. Step 1 — Submission. You upload the architectural drawings (digitally signed by an empanelled architect or engineer) on the OBPS portal, pay the scrutiny fee, and receive an application reference number.
2. Step 2 — Auto-scrutiny. The portal runs an e-DCR / AutoDCR check that compares your drawing against the local bye-laws — setbacks, Floor Area Ratio (FAR) or FSI, height, ground coverage, parking, and density. The system flags deviations automatically.
3. Step 3 — Manual scrutiny. The Town Planning Officer verifies the auto-scrutiny report, checks the title documents, and confirms compliance with the Master Plan or Development Plan zoning.
4. Step 4 — Collateral NOCs. The application is routed simultaneously to NOC departments — Fire Services, Pollution Control Board, Airport or Airports Authority of India (for height near airports), Heritage or Urban Arts Commission where applicable. Each NOC department has its own internal clock.
5. Step 5 — Sanction or rejection. If all NOCs are in and the drawing complies, the Town Planning Officer issues a digitally signed sanction letter. If there is a deviation, you get a scrutiny objection to cure and resubmit.

The verified, portal-specific timelines are: Delhi MCD OBPS (eodb.mcd.gov.in) gives a deemed sanction on the 31st day if no response is received, and a deemed NOC on the 16th day for each collateral department. Meghalaya OBPS (obps.meghalaya.gov.in), launched in August 2025 by NIC Meghalaya for all North-Eastern states, J&K, and Ladakh under AMRUT 2.0, is RTPS-compliant and issues building permits within 30 days. Other states have their own stipulated timelines in their State RTI Rules or Right to Public Services Acts — check your state's before you quote a deadline in your RTI.

Two things have changed the building-plan landscape in 2025-26, and both matter for your RTI.

First, single-window OBPS portals have become the default. MoHUA's Ease of Doing Business reforms pushed states to move from paper files to online portals with e-DCR auto-scrutiny and digitally signed sanctions. Verified live portals include Delhi MCD OBPS (eodb.mcd.gov.in), Andhra Pradesh APDPMS (portal.apdpms.ap.gov.in) covering DTCP, APCRDA and Urban Development Authorities, J&K OBPS (obps.jk.gov.in), and Meghalaya OBPS (obps.meghalaya.gov.in). The UP UPOBPAS (upobpas.in) AutoDCR portal has been reported as having new submissions suspended as of June 2026 under a government order, so if you are in Uttar Pradesh, verify the portal's current status with your local Development Authority before relying on it.

Second, deemed-sanction clocks are now enforceable in the cities that have adopted them. In Delhi MCD, if your drawing is not sanctioned or rejected by the 31st day, and the NOC departments have not responded by the 16th day, you have a legal argument that the sanction is deemed to have been granted. That means the question “what is the status of my application on day 32?” is no longer a polite inquiry — it is a question about whether the municipality is in breach of its own timeline.

What does this mean for Suresh? His six-month wait is not just slow, it is well beyond every stipulated timeline in the system. That makes now the right time to file — while the file is still live, the portal record still exists, and the deemed-sanction argument is still available.

Building plan sanction is a State and local-body subject, so your primary RTI goes to the State PIO — the Town Planning Officer or the Municipal Commissioner of your city. You will usually file one application, not two.

Step 1 — Identify the public authority.

1. The designated PIO is the Town Planning Officer of your zone or the Municipal Commissioner / City Development Officer at the corporation level. For layout approvals and sub-divisions, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) of your State is the authority.
2. The First Appellate Authority is usually the Additional Municipal Commissioner or the Director of Town and Country Planning. The exact designation is on your municipality's website under its RTI manual.

Step 2 — Prepare your questions. Ask for specific, dated records tied to your reference number. Five strong questions:

1. Scrutiny status: “Furnish the current scrutiny status of building plan application No. [your OBPS reference], uploaded on [date], including the e-DCR / AutoDCR scrutiny report and any objections raised.”
2. FAR and height compliance: “Furnish the FAR, ground coverage, height, and setback compliance check carried out for application No. [reference], with the calculation sheet.”
3. NOC tracker: “Furnish the status of each collateral NOC for application No. [reference] — Fire, Pollution Control, Airport / Airports Authority of India (height clearance), Heritage or Urban Arts Commission where applicable — with the date the NOC request was forwarded and the date of response.”
4. Reason for delay: “Furnish the reason for delay in sanctioning or rejecting application No. [reference] beyond the [31-day / 30-day / state-stipulated] sanction timeline, with the name and designation of the officer holding the file.”
5. Projected date of sanction: “Furnish the projected date of sanction or rejection of application No. [reference], and the action taken against officers responsible for the delay under the state's Right to Public Services Act, if any.”

Step 3 — Use the right form and fee. Your application is under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005. Under the Central RTI Rules, 2012 (Rule 3), the fee is Rs.10, payable by Indian Postal Order, Demand Draft, Banker's Cheque, cash against receipt, or electronic means (rtionline.gov.in — UPI, debit card, credit card, net-banking). The application should ordinarily be 500 words or less, excluding annexures. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee under §7(5). State fees vary — most states charge Rs.10, but Gujarat charges Rs.20, and Haryana and Tamil Nadu charge Rs.50. Check your state's RTI Rules for the exact fee and accepted payment modes. See RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for a state-wise breakdown and RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your if this is your first RTI.

Step 4 — Submit and keep proof. File by hand at the PIO's office and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file on the state's online RTI portal if one exists. Proof of submission is your protection if the reply is delayed. You can draft your application quickly with the AI RTI Draft App at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html.

Step 5 — Wait 30 days. The PIO must reply within 30 days of receiving your application under §7(1) (48 hours where life or liberty is involved, which building-plan queries normally are not).

1. A printout or screenshot of the OBPS application reference number and submission date.
2. The scrutiny fee receipt issued by the portal or municipal office.
3. The architect's or engineer's signed drawing set (only the cover sheet, if it is large).
4. The title document (sale deed, khata, or property tax receipt) showing you are the owner or authorised applicant.
5. Any previous correspondence with the municipality — objection letters, resubmission acknowledgements.
6. A copy of your BPL certificate if you are claiming the fee exemption.

1. Filing without your drawing reference number. The PIO cannot locate your file without the OBPS reference or the old paper-file number. Always quote it on page one.
2. Addressing the wrong authority. Building sanction sits with the local body and DTCP, not with MoHUA. MoHUA frames the Model Building Bye-Laws but does not sanction your plan. Filing there only buys you a transfer reply.
3. Asking vague questions. “Give me building plan details” gets you nothing. Ask for named records with dates — the e-DCR scrutiny report, the NOC tracker, the calculation sheet.
4. Skipping the NOC tracker ask. Most delays live in the collateral NOC departments, not in the Town Planning wing itself. If you do not ask for the NOC status, the PIO will reply “sanction under process” and the real bottleneck stays hidden.
5. Forgetting the deemed-sanction clock. If your state or city has a deemed-sanction timeline (Delhi MCD: 31st day; Meghalaya: 30 days), quote it in your RTI. It turns “is my file moving?” into “is the municipality in breach of its own deadline?”
6. Confusing compounding with regularisation. Many municipalities allow compounding of minor deviations within limits set by the local bye-laws, on payment of a compounding fee. The percentage and the fee vary by state bye-laws — there is no flat national rate. Do not claim a 5-10% national rule; check your local bye-laws. Major deviations, and deviations by professional builders made deliberately, are not condonable — the Supreme Court has been clear on this.

RTI is powerful because it has a built-in ladder. If the PIO ignores you or gives a vague “file is under process” reply, you do not stop there.

1. First appeal: If no reply comes within 30 days, or you are unhappy with the reply, file a First Appeal under §19(1) with the First Appellate Authority in the same department. Do this within 30 days of the deadline. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. Draft it with the First Appeal App at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html.
2. Second appeal: If the FAA also fails you, file a Second Appeal under §19(3) with your State Information Commission. There is usually no fee for a second appeal to the State Commission. File within 90 days of the FAA's decision or deadline.
3. Complaint under §18: You can also file a direct complaint to the Information Commission if the PIO never replied at all or refused to accept your application.

For building-plan delays, the most common outcome is that the PIO replies with “scrutiny under process” and a vague projected date. That is a partial reply, not a refusal — but it is enough to trigger a First Appeal pressing for the scrutiny report and the NOC tracker. Work out your deadlines with the Timeline Calculator at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html.

To: The Public Information Officer
    Town Planning Officer / Municipal Commissioner
    [Name of Municipal Corporation / Municipality / Development Authority]
    [City, Pin Code]

Subject: Application under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005
         — Status of building plan sanction, Application No. [BP/2026/xxxxx]

Sir/Madam,

I, [your name], owner of Plot No. [xxx], [street/area], had submitted a
building plan for a G+2 residential building on [date] through the
[State] Online Building Permission System. The application reference
number is [BP/2026/xxxxx] and the scrutiny fee of Rs. [amount] was paid
on [date], receipt No. [xxx].

The application is pending beyond the [31-day / 30-day] sanction
timeline stipulated under [state RTPS Act / municipal bye-laws].
Under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, please furnish the following:

1. The current scrutiny status of Application No. [BP/2026/xxxxx],
   including the e-DCR / AutoDCR scrutiny report and any objections
   raised, dated as on [date of filing].
2. The FAR, ground coverage, height, and setback compliance check
   carried out for the application, with the calculation sheet.
3. The status of each collateral NOC — Fire, Pollution Control Board,
   Airport / Airports Authority of India (height clearance) where
   applicable — with the date the NOC request was forwarded and the
   date of response, for Application No. [BP/2026/xxxxx].
4. The reason for delay in sanctioning or rejecting the application
   beyond the stipulated timeline, with the name and designation of
   the officer currently holding the file.
5. The projected date of sanction or rejection, and the action taken
   against officers responsible for the delay under the state's Right
   to Public Services Act, if any.

I state that the information sought is not exempt under Section 8 or
Section 9 of the RTI Act, 2005. The information sought is of larger
public interest as it concerns the enforcement of municipal sanction
timelines.

Under Section 7(1), please supply the information within 30 days.
Under Section 10, if only a part of the request is exempt, please
furnish the non-exempt part with reasons for the withheld part.
Under Section 6(3), if the information is held by another public
authority, please transfer the application to that authority within
five days and inform me.

Fee of Rs.10 is paid by [Indian Postal Order No. xxxxxx / cash against
receipt / online transaction ID xxxxxx]. I am not a BPL applicant.

If the information is denied or delayed, I reserve the right to file
a First Appeal under Section 19(1) and a Second Appeal under
Section 19(3) to the State Information Commission.

Date: [dd.mm.yyyy]                              [Signature]
Place: [City]                                   [Name]
                                                [Address]
                                                [Phone / email]

File with the Town Planning Officer or Municipal Commissioner of your local body, or the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) for layouts. Building sanction is a State and local-body subject. MoHUA frames the Model Building Bye-Laws but does not sanction individual plans, so filing there will only get you a transfer reply.

Under the Central RTI Rules, 2012 (Rule 3), the fee is Rs.10 for applications of 500 words or less, excluding annexures. Most states also charge Rs.10, but Gujarat charges Rs.20, and Haryana and Tamil Nadu charge Rs.50. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee under §7(5). Check your state's RTI Rules for accepted payment modes — court-fee stamps are valid in several states (Bihar, Punjab, UP, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, AP) but not under the Central Rules.

Under §7(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, the PIO must reply within 30 days of receiving your application (48 hours where life or liberty is at stake, which building-plan queries normally are not). If no reply comes within 30 days, you can file a First Appeal under §19(1) within the next 30 days.

Yes. A CIC order — Shiv Narain Singh v. MCD, GNCT Delhi (Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/002425/15686, 16 November 2011) — established that building-plan sanction, regularisation, and demolition records are disclosable under the RTI Act. Where the records are not compiled in the form you asked for, the PIO must provide what exists on file and offer inspection of the rest.

That is a partial reply, not a refusal. File a First Appeal under §19(1) pressing for the scrutiny report, the NOC tracker with forwarded dates, and the name of the officer holding the file. The FAA must decide within 30 days (extendable to 45). If the FAA also fails, file a Second Appeal to your State Information Commission under §19(3) within 90 days.

Only in cities that have adopted a deemed-sanction clock. Delhi MCD gives a deemed sanction on the 31st day if no response is received, and a deemed NOC on the 16th day for each collateral department. Meghalaya OBPS is RTPS-compliant for building permits within 30 days. Other states have their own timelines under their Right to Public Services Acts — quote the applicable timeline in your RTI so the PIO knows you know the clock.

Generally no, not for major or deliberate deviations. In Dipak Kumar Mukherjee v. Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Civil Appeal No. 7356 of 2012, decided 8 October 2012), the Supreme Court held that illegal constructions violate municipal laws and planned development, and a builder cannot regularise post-completion deviations under the KMC Building Rules 1990; municipal authorities must act against unauthorised construction, and unwary purchasers must be compensated by the builder. In Friends Colony Development Committee v. State of Orissa, (2004) 8 SCC 733, the Court held that deliberate deviations by professional builders do not deserve condonation, compounding must be kept to a bare minimum, and officials who connive must not be spared. Minor compounding within state-bye-law limits is a separate, narrow facility — not a right.

Only if your project is a registered RERA project — that is, a real estate project on a plot above 500 sq m or with more than 8 apartments, where the promoter is required to register under §3. For a self-built residential plan on your own plot, RERA generally does not apply. If the project is RERA-registered and the sanctioned plan does not match what is being built, you can pair your RTI with a RERA grievance; see rera-order-not-complied-with and builder-changed-layout-amenities-carpet-area-after-booking for that route.

Yes. Under the RTI Act, you can ask for file inspection where the records are voluminous or not compiled in the form you want. The first hour of inspection is free; thereafter it is Rs.5 per hour under the Central Rules. Photocopies are Rs.2 per page; a CD is Rs.50. The CIC order in Shiv Narain Singh v. MCD confirms inspection as the fallback where the PIO has not pre-compiled the record.

Yes. Ask for the scrutiny objection report, the e-DCR deviation list, and the signed rejection order with the name and designation of the rejecting officer. A rejection is a disclosable record; the reasons for rejection are not exempt under §8. If the rejection is arbitrary, the same RTI record becomes your evidence in a writ or appeal before the Municipal Building Tribunal or the High Court.

1. RTI Act, 2005 — Section 6(1), Section 7(1), Section 10, Section 19: [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1910806/)
2. Central RTI Rules, 2012 (DoPT notification GSR 603(E), 31 July 2012): [niti.gov.in](https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-07/RTI%20Rules%20Final%20PDF.pdf)
3. Model Building Bye-Laws 2016, Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), MoHUA: [tcpo.gov.in](http://tcpo.gov.in/guidelines)
4. Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (Act 16 of 2016), §3, §4, §5, §11(3)(a), §14: [indiacode.nic.in](https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2158?locale=en)
5. Delhi MCD OBPS portal — deemed sanction 31st day, deemed NOC 16th day: [eodb.mcd.gov.in](https://eodb.mcd.gov.in/)
6. Andhra Pradesh APDPMS portal: [portal.apdpms.ap.gov.in](https://portal.apdpms.ap.gov.in/)
7. J&K OBPS portal: [obps.jk.gov.in](https://obps.jk.gov.in/BPAMSClient/login.aspx)
8. Meghalaya OBPS portal — building permits within 30 days (RTPS), launched August 2025: [obps.meghalaya.gov.in](https://obps.meghalaya.gov.in/)
9. Dipak Kumar Mukherjee v. Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Civil Appeal No. 7356 of 2012, decided 8 October 2012: [casemine.com](https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/5767b12ae691cb22da6d55b5)
10. Friends Colony Development Committee v. State of Orissa, (2004) 8 SCC 733: [indiankanoon.org](https://future.indiankanoon.org/doc/1902389/)
11. CIC order — Shiv Narain Singh v. MCD, GNCT Delhi, Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/002425/15686, 16 November 2011: [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/673253/)
12. Central RTI online portal: [rtionline.gov.in](https://rtionline.gov.in)

1. RTI for occupancy certificate
2. RTI for completion certificate
3. RTI for fire NOC
4. RTI for municipal tax receipt
5. RTI for building plan approval delay
6. Unauthorized construction — illegal extra floor
7. Municipal stop-work and demolition notice
8. RTI fees by state

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.