A 78-year-old resident of Chandigarh, Anil Mehan, gets a huge penalty of ₹3.81 crore for not having an occupation certificate (OC) for his home in Sector 38. The OC is an important document that confirms a building is safe to live in and fit for occupancy. He applied for this certificate five years ago but has not received it and has been struggling for years to get it ever since.
What is an Occupation certificate?
An occupation certificate (OC) is issued by the estate department to verify that a building is suitable for living. Without this certificate, residents have to pay penalties, just like Mehan is now experiencing.
Why has Mehan not received the OC?
Mehan has faced delays in getting the OC for his house, even after following up repeatedly, he says he received no clear responses from the Estate Office, which is responsible for issuing the certificate.
According to Pallav Mukherjee, Mehan’s architect, the Estate Office has delayed the process for over five years, listing petty reasons for not issuing the OC. These reasons included complaints like “solar heating not connected” and “debris in the rainwater harvesting tank,” even though they were easily fixable and didn't affect the building's suitability for occupancy.
Mehan’s troubles started when he purchased the plot in an auction by the Estate Office. After submitting building plans for approval, they faced unnecessary delays and objections from officials that seemed to hold progress. These objections were not related to the design or safety of the building but were mainly paperwork issues that were being used to delay the process.
After much back-and-forth, finally, Mehan and his architect received a sanction letter from the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDOB) months later. However, the occupation certificate was still not issued, and it was further delayed.
The reason behind the penalty
The Estate Office finally issued the penalty of ₹3.81 crore due to violations such as the “solar heating not connected” and other not very major issues. Mukherjee said that the objections raised by the officials were negligible and did not hold any major importance. For example, a small issue like a pipe not being connected properly or debris in a tank were being pointed out as major violations.
Even after facing these challenges, Mehan has continued to fight for his occupation certificate, submitting multiple requests and representations to various administrative levels. However, with no response from the officials