Advertisement
The Gulf conflict has disrupted global supply chains, pushed...
REITs have changed the way commercial real estate is owned a...
What does it take to preserve a real estate legacy while bui...
What really powers the cloud? Behind every Google search, A...
A lot of what defines a home isn’t visible at handover. I...
The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken action on 26,746 cases of unauthorised non-residential use of residential properties, as part of a citywide ward-by-ward survey being conducted in compliance with Supreme Court directives. The exercise follows an order dated 18 February 2026 passed in SLP (Civil) No. 8044/2025, which required urban local bodies across the country to identify and act against residential premises being illegally used for commercial or other non-residential purposes. The survey, under way across all of PMC's zones, forms part of a broader national enforcement drive targeting unauthorised land-use violations in cities.
The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has acted on 26,746 cases involving the unauthorised non-residential use of residential properties across the city, as part of a Supreme Court-mandated survey being carried out ward-wise in all of the corporation's zones.
The exercise stems from an order passed by the Supreme Court on 18 February 2026 in SLP (Civil) No. 8044/2025, which directed urban local bodies and development authorities across the country to identify and take action against residential premises being used for commercial or other non-residential purposes without proper authorisation. PMC has flagged the survey prominently on its official portal, describing it as being conducted "in compliance with the order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court."
According to the civic body, the survey covers all circles and wards under PMC's jurisdiction, with officials physically verifying properties to determine whether residential premises are being used for commercial activities such as shops, offices, coaching centres, guest houses or other non-residential purposes without the requisite change of land use or building plan approval.
The drive follows an earlier citywide property survey initiated by PMC to address broader revenue leakages and discrepancies in its property records. Officials had previously noted that while Patna has more than five lakh electricity connections, only around 3.06 lakh properties were formally registered as taxable holdings, pointing to a significant gap in the civic body's tax base. That exercise, which involved door-to-door verification, geo-tagging and cross-checking of self-assessed data, was aimed at identifying unregistered properties as well as detecting misuse of residential premises for commercial activity.
The current action on 26,746 misuse cases reflects the scale of non-compliance uncovered as the survey has progressed across the city's wards. Properties identified under the exercise are typically subject to further verification, including a review of ownership documents, building permits and approved plans, with owners required to regularise their properties or face enforcement measures, which can include reclassification for tax purposes, penalties or, in cases of continued non-compliance, sealing or demolition action as prescribed under applicable municipal law.
The Patna drive mirrors similar enforcement action taken by other urban civic bodies across the country in recent months in response to the same set of Supreme Court directives, with municipal corporations in several states issuing show-cause notices and conducting zone-wise surveys to identify residential properties being misused for commercial purposes.
For PMC, the exercise is also expected to have a direct bearing on the corporation's revenue base, given that non-residential use of a property typically attracts a substantially higher property tax rate than residential use. The corporation had earlier reported its highest-ever property tax collection of INR 125 crore for the 2025-26 financial year, aided in part by an expansion of the tax base through survey-driven enforcement.
The civic body has published the hearing schedule and circle-wise list relating to the survey on its official website for public reference.
The report did not specify the number of properties among the 26,746 identified cases that have so far been penalised, reclassified for tax purposes, or subjected to sealing or demolition action, nor did it provide a timeline for completion of the survey across all of PMC's wards.
Advertisement
Facebook
Whatsapp
