Mumbai: Flaws within 10 years of construction to attract action

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Architects, licence surveyors, site engineers, supervisors, even a construction company and its consultant will be held responsible, if a defect is detected in a building within 10 years of its construction. The Maharashtra government has issued a notification to this effect, with a focus on the improvement of its (the state's) rank in the quality control index of a World Bank report. It has made an amendment in Development Control Regulations (DCR), 1991, of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in section 37 (1AA), holding architects and others mentioned liable for structural defects or flaws.

The state government notification was published on March 7 (in its gazette) and the BMC's Development Plan (DP) department has started implementing the new law. According to the notification (a copy of which is with mid-day), any building constructed in an area of 750 sq m (8,000 square feet) or above, which is less than 10 years of age from the date of issuance of the occupation-cum-building completion certificate, will be covered under this changed law.

According to officials from DP department, the changes came after the World Bank, in its Doing Business, 2017, report, in respect of the criteria for ranking of the construction permits, has given high importance to the provision of 'latent defect liability period' in the quality control index. Earlier there was no such rule under which architects or other persons could be held liable for any flaws.

An official from the BMC said, "Last year the state government had introduced changes in DCR and decided to fix responsibility on licenced technical personnel in respect of structural flaws or defects in the buildings. Earlier it was proposed to include only buildings that have an area over 20,000 sq m. However, it was changed, as under that law only few buildings would be covered." In the past few years there were several building collapses and in few of them, it was revealed that construction quality was not up to the mark, which had led to weakening of the structure.

Hope for better position
A senior DP official said, "Under this law we can recover the amount from the architect, engineer, or construction company if it has been established that there was a defect in construction work. With the new law we are hopeful of a better position in the World Bank's report on ease of doing business."

PEATA says
Shirish Sukhatme of Practicing Engineers, Architects, and Town Planners Association (India) (PEATA) said, "The notification says that if there are any flaws the architect should be responsible, but in majority cases, the owner of the flat does extreme alterations and additions which led to collapse or damage to buildings. It is totally unfair to hold us responsible for such things. Also, the government wants us to insure buildings so that in case of damage and collapse, we pay compensation." He added, "Instead of this, they should make the law more stringent for people who do major alterations in buildings. The government is holding responsible us with no concrete logic."

The notification
Any building constructed in an area of 750 square metres (8,000 square feet), which is within 10 years of the date of issuance of occupation-cum-building completion certificate, will be covered under this changed law.

750 sq m
The law is applicable to buildings of this area or over, if flaws are detected before completion of 10 years

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