GURUGRAM: The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) has proposed the blacklisting of 15 architects due to alleged misconduct in issuing occupation certificates (OCs).
The architects under scrutiny include Niharika Yadav, Yashpal, Jatin Lochab, Jivesh, Sudiksha Kaushik, Aman Sharma, Deepak Jayant, Ravinder, Ravi Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Gomati Prasad, Jyoti Sharma, Rosy Raghav, Jitender, and Somansh Singhal.
According to department sources, new OC applications from these architects are currently on hold while further measures are evaluated. The department is also considering imposing financial penalties and additional disciplinary actions.
This crackdown follows a comprehensive investigation by the chief minister’s flying squad in collaboration with planning authorities, revealing several instances where OCs were granted for buildings that were either incomplete or still under construction.
After months of inspections in licensed colonies in Gurgaon, investigators identified numerous properties that were granted OCs despite having construction well underway. In several cases, buildings were still at the brickwork stage, lacking basic finishing, yet certified as ready for occupation. The CM’s flying squad requested details on nearly 1,500 OCs issued over a nine-month period. Subsequent inspections and document checks suggested a pattern of rule violations in these certifications.
Officials stated that the district town planner (planning) submitted the architects’ names to the senior town planner for blacklisting upon finding evidence of violations against the self-certification policy and the Haryana Building Code, 2017.
District Town Planner Praveen Chauhan informed TOI, “The architects involved issued OCs for buildings that were incomplete and unsuitable for occupation. Show-cause notices were sent, but often there were no responses, or the replies were deemed unsatisfactory.”
The recommendations for blacklisting have been sent to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning headquarters for final approval. “We will not tolerate such violations, and inspections will be intensified in the upcoming months,” said senior town planner Renuka Singh.
These violations emerged during an extensive verification exercise, wherein investigators reviewed OCs issued from July 2025 to March 2026 under Haryana’s self-certification framework, which allows certified architects to validate the completion of residential buildings.
Inspection teams recently assessed various properties in BPTP Astaire Gardens, Imperial, and Green Oaks in Sector 70A. Of the 22 buildings examined, around 14 were found incomplete, with only brickwork present and no finishing work initiated. Nonetheless, OCs had already been issued for these properties, as reported by officials.
Previous discrepancies have also been noted in licensed colonies such as Ansal Esencia, Anant Raj, South City-1, South City-2, and Sector 61, where investigators discovered under-construction buildings falsely marked as complete in official documents.
This situation has raised serious concerns about Haryana’s self-certification system, which was meant to expedite approvals but is now under scrutiny for its oversight and accountability standards.
