House map approval in West Bengal

It depends on where the plot is. In Kolkata a Licensed Building Surveyor or architect files the plan on KMC's own online building plan system, with an empanelled structural engineer. In Howrah and every other town the plan goes online on the state's Online Building Plan Approval System (OBPAS) at obpsudma.wb.gov.in, filed by a surveyor or architect empanelled with your municipality; you need the deed, mutation record or record of rights, a paid property-tax receipt and the drawings in the portal's format. If the plot lies in a development authority's planning area, you may first need its land use compatibility certificate. In a village you apply to the gram panchayat on prdeodb.wb.gov.in.

There is no exemption from sanction in towns, but there is a lighter route. Outside Kolkata and Howrah, a house for your own use up to 10 m high on a plot of up to 200 sq m, with no basement, piles or deep foundation and away from railways, high-tension lines, large water bodies and similar hazards, is classed as low risk. A Licensed Building Surveyor (Class II) is enough, and once the plan is sanctioned you self-certify the plinth and the finished house through that surveyor: the municipality must issue the plinth certificate within 5 days and the completion certificate within 25, and does not inspect. It may still check later and cancel a certificate given on false facts.

Outside Kolkata a municipal body has 15 days to sanction a plan under the state's public-services time limits. Under the West Bengal Municipal Act, if a municipality neither sanctions nor refuses it in time, you can appeal to it in writing, and if the appeal is not decided within 30 days the sanction is deemed granted, though the house must still follow the rules. For a house for your own use the rules set a base fee of ₹500 for the first 30 sq m of floor area and ₹75 for every further 10 sq m, and a municipality may charge up to five times that. In Kolkata the 2026–27 application fee on a plot up to 500 sq m is ₹2,000 for a house up to 7 m and ₹5,000 up to 10 m, with the sanction fee on top. Outside Kolkata a sanction lasts three years and can be renewed for two more; in Kolkata work must start within two years and finish within five.

In towns, a Licensed Building Surveyor empanelled with the municipality or an architect registered with the Council of Architecture. A Class II surveyor needs a civil engineering degree and two years' experience, or a diploma in civil engineering or architecture and five years, and is enough for a low-risk house. A Class I surveyor, with a degree and five years or a diploma and ten, files medium-risk houses with certificates from a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer empanelled with the Municipal Engineering Directorate or KMC. In villages a civil draftsman may sign a house up to 4 m, a surveyor with a civil diploma up to 11 m, a civil engineering graduate up to 15 m, and an architect any building.

The road in front sets the height. On a road wider than 2.4 m and up to 3 m the limit is 7 m; up to 5 m it is 10 m (12.5 m if you give a 2.5 m strip along the frontage to the municipality); up to 7 m it is 12.5 m (15.5 m with the strip); up to 9 m it is 20 m; and wider roads allow 40 m and more. Floor area is capped by road width too, from 1.25 times the plot area on roads of 2.4 to 3.5 m to 1.75 up to 7 m and 2.0 up to 9 m. Outside Kolkata and Howrah, stay within 10 m and a 200 sq m plot for the low-risk route.

Yes. Under section 23 of the West Bengal Panchayat Act 1973 no one may build or add to a building in a gram panchayat area without the panchayat's written permission given beforehand, and it cannot approve a plan without a sanitary latrine. The panchayat itself checks a house with up to 150 sq m of plinth area and up to 6.5 m high; the panchayat samiti checks one up to 300 sq m and 6.5 m, the zilla parishad larger or taller ones up to 15 m, and the Panchayats and Rural Development Department anything taller, but the panchayat issues the permission. Only a thatched, tin or tile shed without brick walls, up to 18 sq m, is exempt. Plots under a development authority go to that authority instead.

Yes. Both follow the KMC Building Rules 2009 rather than the municipal rules used elsewhere. Kolkata runs its own online system, where the surveyor or architect uploads the drawing, KMC scrutinises it and inspects the site, and the sanction follows payment of the fee. In March 2025 KMC proposed easier open spaces and quicker sanction for small plots in colonies, thika land, slums and refugee rehabilitation land; the state notified an amendment to the KMC Building Rules later in 2025, but we could not open it, so check the current limits with KMC's building department. Howrah moved to OBPAS in September 2022 and, since August 2022, lets a house on a plot up to 125 sq m cover 70% of it with 0.6 m in front.

A municipality can order the work stopped, with police help, and after hearing you can order the unauthorised part demolished at your cost; you can appeal to the court. Building that endangers life or municipal property, blocks water supply, drains or traffic, or creates a fire hazard can bring up to five years in jail and a fine of up to ₹50,000. In Kolkata, KMC says it may complain to the police and demolish. Small deviations, up to 5% in size or 10% in height with no extra floor, can be regularised on a fee. In August 2026 the urban development minister announced third-party checks at each stage of construction and stricter penalties after a window for regularising minor deviations, reported as running to 31 March 2027; we found no notified rule by 3 November 2026.