Haryana defers new occupation certificate certification system after self-certification scandal

Haryana's Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) has deferred the rollout of a new occupation certificate (OC) certification system, according to a report by The Times of India^[1]. No revised effective date has been announced. The deferral affects developers, architects, and plot-holders in the state's licensed residential colonies, where the OC process has been in flux since a self-certification scheme introduced in November 2022 produced a large volume of fraudulent certificates.

Background: the self-certification scheme and its collapse

In November 2022, Haryana's DTCP announced that empanelled architects - not government junior engineers - would become the competent authority for issuing OCs in licensed plotted colonies. The rationale was an ease-of-doing-business reform: qualified professionals would self-certify completed buildings, cutting queues at government offices and removing the discretionary power of a junior engineer who could delay a file indefinitely.

The scheme operated under the Haryana Building Code 2017. Under the prior process, a government officer inspected the site and prepared a report before the department issued the certificate. Under the new model, the registered architect who prepared or supervised the build acted as the competent authority and issued the OC without a mandatory physical inspection by the department.

In April 2026, a joint operation by the Chief Minister's Flying Squad and the DTCP inspected 22 residential sites in Sector 70A, Gurugram, across BPTP's Astaire Gardens, Imperial, and Green Oaks colonies. Fourteen of the 22 buildings were found to be completely under construction despite holding officially issued OCs - several were bare brick skeletons with no plaster, flooring, or functional kitchens or bathrooms.

Authorities subsequently scrutinised OCs issued under the self-certification policy between 1 July 2025 and 15 March 2026. That investigation found that around 2,000 OCs had been issued illegally, according to Praveen Chauhan, District Town Planner (Planning), Gurugram.

Enforcement action against architects

The DTCP's response targeted the professionals who signed the certificates. The Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) blacklisted 18 architects for "gross professional misconduct" in granting OCs under the stilt-plus-four floors scheme despite a ban on such structures imposed by the state government. HSVP's District Town Planner directed the Chief Information Technology Officer to remove the blacklisted architects' IDs from the online building approval portal immediately.

The DTCP also imposed a penalty of ₹2 lakh per violation on architects who allegedly issued OCs illegally for stilt-plus-four properties. Blacklisted architects were offered a hearing with the Senior Town Planner before any final determination.

The enforcement action extended beyond individual architects. The DTCP formed special teams to inspect and penalise properties where illegal construction or commercial use of residential units had occurred after an OC was obtained. Enforcement teams targeted around 30 properties in the first phase, with a broader list prepared from field-staff inputs.

The new system and what the deferral means

Haryana has been building a replacement framework on two parallel tracks:

• HSVP OBPAS portal - the Online Building Plan Approval System developed by Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran, which became fully operational for new applications from 1 October 2025. From 1 January 2026, architect logins on the portal were integrated with the Council of Architects (COA), requiring a one-time registration using a valid COA registration number. Applications for building plans and OCs are now initiated by the allottee through their own login, with the allottee selecting an architect or supervisor of their choice.
• ULB OBPAS portal - a unified portal for Urban Local Bodies, launched on 8 May 2026, mandating compliance with the Haryana Building Code 2017 (Amended) for all new submissions and incorporating an automated Quick DCR Scrutiny Engine that analyses AutoCAD drawings against the code.

The Times of India reports that the rollout of the new OC certification system has been deferred^[1]. The instrument does not specify which component of the replacement framework is affected, what the revised timeline is, or what process governs OC applications submitted in the interim. The authority having jurisdiction - the DTCP - has not published a revised effective date as of the date of this report.

What to watch

The deferral comes as the DTCP is still conducting a citywide re-audit of OCs issued under the old self-certification route. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has been hearing related enforcement matters, including a case involving over 4,000 houses in Gurugram's DLF Phases 1-5 under scrutiny for illegal construction and commercial use. Whether the deferred system will incorporate mandatory physical inspections - the element the 2022 reform removed - or rely on a strengthened digital audit trail has not been stated publicly. The DTCP's stated audit cap of 10 per cent on back-end verification under the self-certification model is widely cited as the structural gap that allowed the scale of non-compliance to go undetected.