SRINAGAR, February 13, 2026 — The Jammu and Kashmir government has announced a comprehensive plan to simplify the issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for construction activities within municipal areas to eliminate bureaucratic delays and public hardship. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on behalf of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Minister for Social Welfare Sakeena Itoo addressed concerns raised by Legislator Sajad Gani Lone regarding the hurdles faced by citizens seeking building permissions. The Minister clarified that while Section 203 of the Municipal Act 2000 and the J&K Unified Building Bye-laws (UBBL) 2021 mandate official sanction for any erection or material alteration of buildings within Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the current dependency on multiple departments—including the Town Planning Organisation—has created bottlenecks.
To address these administrative challenges, Minister Itoo revealed that the Town Planning Organisation is undergoing a significant reorganization. Currently, only three Town Planners manage the workload for 40 Urban Local Bodies across Kashmir, which includes 10 Municipal Councils and 30 Municipal Committees. By transitioning to a District cadre system, the government aims to localize support for the preparation and implementation of Master Plans for every town, ensuring more efficient oversight. In response to supplementary queries from Legislators Saif-ud-Din Bhat and Irshad Rasool Kar, the Minister pledged that the government would examine the specific causes of delay and issue strict directives to concerned offices for time-bound NOC issuance. She emphasized that all legislative suggestions would be integrated into the new framework to ensure that the construction process becomes a seamless experience for the public.
