‘Extend planning permission, building license period’

Coimbatore Consumer Cause has written to the civic body to extend the planning permission and building license period because of the difficulties faced during the COVID-19 lockdown period. In a repres

Coimbatore Consumer Cause has written to the civic body to extend the planning permission and building license period because of the difficulties faced during the COVID-19 lockdown period. In a representation, the consumer organisation’s secretary K. Kathirmathiyon said until February 2019, the Corporation issued planning permission for three years. After the State government framed the Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019, the validity was five years. Notwithstanding the extension of the validity period by two years, those applicants who had applied in 2017 and 2018 faced difficulty because they could not renew those in 2020 or 2021 because of the restriction placed during the lockdown. And, the three-year validity had expired. The problem in renewing building license or planning permission at local bodies was more as the officials were engaged in fighting the pandemic. The Corporation should therefore extend the validity of planning permission and building license as the Central and State governments had extended the validity of various licenses and permissions during the lockdown period, Mr. Kathirmathiyon said and cited the driving license, vehicle insurance validity as examples.