2.1 “Advertising sign” means any sign, either free, standing or attached to a building or other structure which advertises a business or commercial establishment.
2.2 “Alley” means a public thoroughfare, which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property and not intended for general traffic circulation.
2.3 “Apartment”: The building will be called apartment house when the building is arranged/intended/designed to be occupied by families independent to each other and with independent cooking facility professionally developed by private developers for the purpose of sale/lease to individual owners.
2.4 “Approved” means approved by the Authority by any officer to whom the power has been delegated by the Authority.
2.5 “Authority” means the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority constituted by the State Govt. under Section 4 of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority Act, 1985 (Assam Act XX 1987).
2.6 “Balcony” means horizontal projection in upper floors to serve as a passage or sitting out place.
2.7 “Basement” means the lower storey of building partly below ground level.
2.8 “Bazar” means a place or area reserved or licensed by the Authority for the erection of shops or stalls or both.
2.9 “Building” means any construction for whatsoever materials construction and every part thereof, whether used as human habitation or not and includes plinth, walls, chimney drainage work, fixed platforms, verandah, balcony, cornice or projection, or part of a building on anything affixed thereof or any walls, earth bank, fence or other construction enclosing or delimiting or intended to enclose or delimit any land or space.
2.10 “Building Accessory” means a subordinate building or a portion of the main building the use of which is incidental to that of the dominant use of the building or the premises.
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2.11 “Building height” means the vertical distance measured in the case of flat roofs from the average level of ground around and contiguous to the building or as decided by Authority to the terrace of last livable floor of the building adjacent to external wall and in the case of pitched roofs, upto the point where the external surface of the outer wall intersects the finished surface of the sloping roof, and in the case of gaffles facing the road the mid point between the eaves level and the ridge. The architectural features serving no other function except that of decoration shall be excluded for the purpose of taking heights. If the building does not abut street the height shall be measured above the average level of the ground around and contiguous to the building.
For hilly areas the vertical distance shall be measured from the lower floor level instead of average ground level as applicable in case of plain.
2.12 “Building line” means a line which is in rear of the street alignment and to which the main wall of a building abutting on a street may lawfully extend and beyond which no portion of the building may extend except as prescribed in these Byelaws.
2.13 “Building Industrial” means a building, which is wholly or predominantly used as a warehouse, factory, distillery, iron foundry and all other buildings put to or be put to any use permitted in the Zone by an authorized scheme applicable thereto.
2.14 “Building Office” means any building used or constructed or erected to be used ordinarily or occasionally for business purpose and no part of it is being used for living purpose except by the caretaker or his family.
2.15 “Building Public” means a building used or constructed or erected to be used ordinarily or occasionally as church, temple, mosque, or other places of public worships or as a hospital, dharamshala, college, school, theatre, cinema, public hall or lecture room, public exhibition room, public place or assembly or for any others public purpose.
2.16 “Building Residential” means a building used or constructed or expected to be used wholly or partially for human habitation and includes all garages, stables or other building apartment thereto.
2.17 “Carpet area” means the covered area of the usable rooms at any floor level (excluding the area of the wall).
2.18 “Chajja” means the sloping or horizontal structural projection usually provided over openings on external walls to provide protection from sun and rain.
2.19 “Ceiling height” means the vertical distance between the floor and the ceiling where a finished ceiling is not provided the underside of the joists or top of post plate in case of pitched roof shall determine the upper point of measurement.
2.20 “Concrete” means concrete in which steel rods or meshes are embedded to increase strength.
2.21 “Concrete plain” means concrete cast in place without metal reinforcement or reinforced only for shrinkage or temperature changes.
2.22 “Coverage” means the percentage ratio of the plinth area of the main and accessory buildings to the total area of the plot.
2.23 “Damp proof course” means consisting of some appropriate water proofing material at a height of not less than 6” above the surface of the adjoining ground.
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2.24 “Drain” means any conduit used for the carriage of sewerage and sullage water from one building or a portion of the building.
2.25 “Drain-sewerage” means a drain used or constructed to be used for conveying solid or liquid waste matter, excremental or otherwise to a sewer.
2.26 “Drain-surface water” means a drain used or constructed to use solely for conveying to any drain any rain water but shall not include any rainwater pipe.
2.27 “Dwelling” means a building or portion thereof which is designed for use wholly or principally for residential purposes.
2.28 “Floor Area Ratio” (FAR) means quotient by dividing the total covered area (Plinth area) on all floors excluding exempted areas as given in this regulations into 100 by the area of the plot.
Total covered area of all floors x 100 FAR= Plot area “Floor area” means covered area of a building at any floor level.
2.29 “Factory” means a place to which the provision of the Indian Factories Act of 1934 or any amendment thereof shall apply.
2.30 “Family” means a group of individuals normally of blood relation or connected by marriage living together as a single house keeping unit and having a common kitchen. Customary domestic servants shall be considered as adjunct to the term family.
2.31 “Filling station” means an area of land including any structures thereon that is or are used or designed to be used for the supply of gasoline or oil or fuel for the propulsion of vehicles. For the purpose of these Byelaws there shall be deemed to be included within this term any area or structure used or designed to be used for polishing, greasing, washing, spraying or otherwise cleaning or servicing such motor vehicles.
2.32 “Fire resisting material” means any of the incombustible materials or other suitable materials as approved by the engineer or architect.
2.33 “Garage private” means an accessory building designed or used for the storage of motor driven vehicles owned or used by the occupants of the building to which it is necessary.
2.34 “Garage public” means a building or portion thereof other than a private garage designed or used for repairing, serving, selling or storing motor driven vehicles.
2.35 “Habitable room” means a room occupied or designed for occupancy by one or more persons for study, living, sleeping, eating, kitchen if it is intended for use as a living room, but not including bathroom, water closet compartment, laundries, pantries, corridors, cellars.
2.36 “Hotel” means a building or a part of the building used as boarding place for more than 15 persons who are lodged with or without meals.
2.37 “Institution” means a building occupied by a no profit corporation or establishment for public use or benefit.
2.38 (a) “Latrine connected” means a latrine connected by a sewer system.
(b) “Latrine-septic” means latrine connected by a septic tank system.
2.39 “Mezzanine Floor”- An intermediate floor between two floors of any story forming an integral part of floor below.
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2.40 “Non conforming use” means a building, structure, or use of land existing at the time of enforcement of the said Byelaws, and which do not conform to the regulation of the zone in which it is situated.
2.41 “Occupier” means any person paying or liable to pay the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which the work is due or compensation or premium on account of the occupation of such land and building and also a rent free tenant.
2.42 “Open space” means an area forming an integral part of the plot left open to the sky for the purpose of this Building Byelaws.
2.43 “Owner” means the person, when used in reference to any premises who receives the rent of the said premises or would be legally entitled to do so if the premises were let out. It also includes:
(a) an agent or trustee who is legally authorized to receive such rent on behalf of the owner.
(b) a receiver, executor or administrator or a manager appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction to have the charges of or to exercise the rights of owner of the said premises.
(c) a person having legal titleship over the premises /plot of land.
2.44 “Parking space” means an area enclosed or unenclosed, sufficient in size to store an automobile or any other conveyance together with a driveway connecting the parking space with a street, or alley and permitting ingress or egress of all such conveyances.
(a) Multilevel Car Parking- Project where in addition to permissible parking space on maximum FAR, three times additional space for car parking is provided.
2.45 “Pathway” means an approach constructed with materials such as bricks, concrete, stone asphalt or the like.
2.46 “Plinth” means the portion of a structure between the surface of the surrounding ground and surface of the floor immediately above the ground.
2.47 “Plot” means a parcel of land occupied or intended for occupancy by one main building, together with its accessory buildings and used customarily and incidental to it, including the vacant spaces required by these Bye-laws and having frontage upon a street or upon a private way that has officially been approved by the Authority.
2.48 “Plot corner” means a parcel of land at the junction of and frontage on, one, two or more intersecting streets.
2.49 (a) “Plot depth” means the horizontal distance between the front and rear lines.
(b) “Plot width” means the shorter distance from one side of the plot line to other measured through that part of the plot to be occupied by the building.
2.50 “Plot double frontage” means a plot having a frontage on two nonintersecting streets as distinguished from corner plot.
2.51 “Repairs” means any renovation applied to any structure, which does not in any way change the specification of the structure but saves the structure from further deterioration.
2.52 “Road” means and includes any highway, street, lane, pathway, alley, passageway, carriageway, footway, square, bridge, whether private or public, whether throughfare, or not whether existing or proposed in any scheme culverts, side walks and traffic islands.
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2.53 “Sanctioned Plan” means the set of drawings and statements submitted under section of these Byelaws in connection with a building and sanctioned by a competent authority.
2.54 “Set back line” means a line parallel to the center line of a road or a street and laid down in each case by the Development Authority beyond which nothing can be erected or re-erected save with the particular and express sanction of the Authority.
2.55 “Storey” means the portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it or if there be no floor above it, then the spaces between any floor and the ceiling next above it.
2.56 “Storey Ground” means that storey of a building to which there is an entrance from the outside of the adjoining ground or road and when there are two such storey, then the lower of the two shall be taken as the ground storey.
2.57 “Storey height of” means the vertical distance from the top surface of one floor to surface of the floor next above. The height of the top storey is the distance from the top surface of the floor to top surface of the ceiling joints.
2.58 “Tenement” means a part of a building intended or used or likely to be used as dwelling unit for a family.
2.59 “To abut” means to abut on a road such that any portion of the plot is on the road boundary.
2.60 “To construct” means to erect, re-erect or make materials alterations.
2.61 “To erect” means to construct a building for the first time or to reconstruct an existing building after demolishing it according to some fresh or revised plan.
2.62 “To re-erect” means a construction for a second time or subsequent further times a building or part of a building after demolishing it, on the same plan as has been previously sanctioned.
2.63 “To make alterations” means to make any modification in any existing building by way of addition or alteration, or any other change in the roof, window, door compound, sanitary and drainage system in any respect whatsoever. Opening of a window and providing inter communication doors shall be considered to be material alterations.
Similarly modifications in respect gardening, whitewashing, painting, retiling and other decorative works-shall-not-be-material-alterations.
It-is-further-included:
(a) Conversion of a building or any part thereof for human habitation as one dwelling house into more than one dwelling house and vice versa.
(b) Conversion of a building or a part thereof suitable for human habitation into-a-dwelling-house-or-vice-versa.
(c) Conversion of a dwelling house or a part thereof into a shop, warehouse or-factory-or-vice-versa,-and
(d) Conversion of a building used or intended to be used for one purpose such as shop warehouse or factory etc. into one or another purpose.
2.64 “Warehouse” means a building, the whole or substantial part of which is used or intended to be used for the storage of goods whether for keeping NEW REVISED BUILDING BYELAWS FOR GUWAHATI METROPOLITAN AREA-2006 Guwahati Metropolitan Dev. Authority Page No. [8] or for sale or any similar purpose but does not include a store room attached to and used for the proper functioning of a shop.
2.65 “Water closet” means a privacy with arrangement for flushing the pan with water. It does not include a bathroom.
2.66 Workshop” means a building where not more than ten persons are employed in any repair or light manufacture, process.
2.67 “Yard” means an open space at ground level between a building and adjoining boundary lines of the plot unoccupied and unobstructed except by encroachments or structure specifically permitted by these Byelaws, on the same plot with a building. All yard measurements shall be the minimum distance between the front, rear and side yard plot boundaries, as the case may be, and the nearest plot of the building including enclosed or covered porch. Every part of every yard shall be accessible from every other part of the same yard.
2.68 “Yard-front” means a yard existing across the front of a plot between the side yard lines and the minimum horizontal distance between the street line and main building or any projection thereof other than steps, unenclosed chajja, ornamental decoration etc.
2.69 “Yard-rear” means a yard extending across the rear of a plot measured between plot boundaries and being the minimum horizontal distance between the rear plot boundary and the rear of the building or any projections other than steps, un-enclosed chajja, ornamental decorations.
In a corner plot the rear yard shall be considered as parallel to the street upon which the plot has its least dimension, in both the corner and interior plot the rear yard shall be at the opposite end of the plot from this yard.
2.70 “yard-side” means a yard between the building and the side line of the plot and extending from the front line to the rear line of the plot and being the minimum horizontal distance between the side boundary line and the sides of a building or any other projections other than steps, unenclosed chajja, ornamental decorations.
2.71 Geo-technical Engineers: shall mean a Civil Engineer having at least 2 years experience in soil and foundation engineering under similar soil/ geo-technical/ slope conditions.
2.72 Group Housing: - means apartments or multistoreyed housing with more than 4 (four) building blocks in a plot where land is owned jointly and the construction is undertaken by a single agency.
2.73 Heritage Building means any building of one or more premises or any part thereof which requires preservation and conservation for historical, architectural, environmental, cultural or religious purpose includes such portion of the land adjoining such buildings as may be required.
2.74 Heritage Zone: - means the area around such heritage building as delineated by the Authority from time to time for restricting the height of building and use of building.
2.75 Multistoreyed or highrise buildings: - Means a building whose height is 15 meters or more measured from the average level of the central line of the street on which the site abuts or more than four floors excluding basement or stilt.
2.76 Mixed use building: - means a building having more than one use where the predominant use is maximum 2/3rd of the total use. The predominate use is to be in conformity with the zoning.
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2.77 Structural Engineer: - shall mean an Engineer with at least 3 years experience in structural design or an Engineer with post Graduate degree in Structural Engineering.
2.78 Services in relation to a building means light and ventilation, electrical installation, air conditioning and heating, acoustics and sound, installation of lift and escalators, water supply, fire fighting, sewerage and drainage, gas supply, telephone and garbage disposal mechanism, landscape and environment.
2.79 Use group:- means the purpose for which the building or a part of building is used or intended to be used.
The classification of building based on principal occupancy shall be as follows:
(a) Residential Buildings These shall include any building, in which sleeping accommodation is provided for normal residential purposes with or without cooking or dining or both facilities, including one or two or multi-family dwellings, lodging dormitories, apartment houses, flats and hostels.
(b) Institutional Buildings Institutional buildings ordinarily provide sleeping accommodation for the occupants and specialized non-commercial training centers. It includes hospital, sanatoria, custodial institutions and penal institutions like jails, prisons, mental hospitals and reformatories. These shall include any building used for school, college or day care purposes involving assembly for instruction, education or recreation where it is a part of education and other public and semi-public buildings.
(c) Assembly Buildings These shall include any building or part of a building where groups of people congregate or gather for amusement, recreation, special, patriotic, civil travel and similar purposes, for example – marriage hall, theatres, motion picture houses, assembly halls, auditoria, libraries, exhibition halls, museums, skating rings, gymnasium, restaurants, dance halls, clubs, passenger stations and terminals of air, surface and other public transportation services, and stadia. These shall include any building used for religious purposes like prayers, puja, worship, religious or spiritual congregation, discourses, rituals and functions.
(d) Commercial Buildings These shall include any building or part of a building which is used as shop, store, market for display and sale of merchandise either wholesale or retail, office, storage or service facilities incidental to the sale of merchandise and located in the same building shall be included under this group. These shall include any building or part of a building which is used for transaction of business and / or the keeping of accounts and records therefore including offices, banks, professional establishments etc. if their principal function is transaction of business or keeping of books and records.
(e) Industrial Buildings These shall include any building or part of a building or structure, in which products or materials of all kinds and properties are fabricated, assembled or processed like assembly plants, laboratories, power plants, smoke houses, refineries, gas plants, mills, dairies, factories, etc.
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(f) Storage Buildings These shall include any building or part of building used primarily for the storage or sheltering of goods, wires, merchandise, like warehouses, cold storages, freight depots, transit sheds, store houses, garages, hangers, truck terminals, grain elevators, barns and stables.
(g) Hazardous Buildings These shall include any building or part of a building which is used for the storage, handling, manufacture or processing of highly combustible or explosive materials or products which may produce poisonous fumes or explosions for storage, handling, manufacturing or processing which involve highly corrosive toxic or noxious alkalis, acids or other liquids or chemicals producing flame, fumes and explosive poisonous, irritant or corrosive gases, and for the storage, handling or processing of any material producing explosive mixtures or dust for which result in the division of matter in to fine particles subject to spontaneous ignition.
2.80. Building Means all types of permanent building defined here, but structure of temporary nature like tents, hutment as well as shamianas erected for temporary purposes for ceremonial occasions, with the permission of the competent authority, shall not be considered to be "buildings".
Definition of building shall also include "Unsafe Building" means a building which, - is structurally unsafe, - is insanitary, - is not provided with adequate means of egress, - constitutes a fire hazard, - in relation to its existing use constitutes a hazard to safety or health or public welfare by reasons of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation or abandonment.
2.81. Natural Hazard Prone Areas Areas likely to have moderate to high intensity of earthquake or cyclonic storm or significant flood flow or inundation or land slides/mud flows or one or more of these hazards.
2.82. Lifeline Building Those buildings which are of post earthquake importance such as hospital building, power house building, telephone exchange building, T.V. station, radio station, jail, police station, office of district administration, superintendent of police & police and administrative- H.Q.
2.83. Retrofitting Retrofitting means upgrading the strength of an unsafe building by using suitable engineering techniques.
2.84. Quality Control This is related to construction quality and to control of variation in the material properties and structural adequacy. In case of concrete, it is the NEW REVISED BUILDING BYELAWS FOR GUWAHATI METROPOLITAN AREA-2006 Guwahati Metropolitan Dev. Authority Page No. [11] control of accuracy of all operations that affect the consistency and strength of concrete, batching, mixing, transporting, placing, curing and testing.
2.85. Quality Audit Third party quality audit is a requirement for an independent assessment of the quality and seismic or cyclone resistant features of all the highrise buildings in earthquake zone IV and V of the country. The quality audit report shall consist of conformance or non-conformance of structures with the technical specifications for earthquake and cyclone resistance and to suggest remedies/ rectification, if any.
2.86. Quality Assurance All planned and systematic actions necessary to ensure that the final product i.e. structure or structural elements will perform satisfactorily in service life.
2.87. Compliance This is the verification of the properties of construction materials based on test data and verification of the strength and structural adequacy for various components of buildings and structures.
2.88. Non-Structural Component Those components of buildings which do not contribute to the structural stability such as infill walls in R.C. frame buildings, glass panes, claddings,-parapet-walls,-chimneys-etc.
2.89. Registered Structural Engineer on Record (SER), Structural Design Agency on Record (SDAR), Construction Engineer on Record (CER) as Construction Management Agency on Record (CMAR), Quality Auditors on Record (QAR) as Quality Auditors on Record means the Registered Structural Engineers / Engineers/ Supervisors / Agency registered with Authority under the provision of these rules, qualified to take up the various work as mentioned in Chapter- VI.
2.90. Town Planner shall mean a Planner with graduate or postgraduate degree in town planning from a recognised institution or qualifications required for membership-of-the-Institute-of-Town-Planners,-India.
3. Interpretation:
3.1 In the Byelaws, the use of present tense includes the future tense, the masculine gender includes feminine and the neutral, the singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular, the word “person” includes a corporation, and “Signature” includes thumb impression made by a person who cannot write if his name is written near to such thumb impression.
3.2 Whenever size and dimensions of rooms and spaces within the building are specified, they shall mean the clear dimensions unless otherwise specified in these rules.
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3.3 The definition of the terms, which are not covered by these regulations, shall be covered by definition prescribed by the GMDA Act, Master Plan for Guwahati and any other rules framed thereafter.
3.4 Clinic is a diagnostic center where patients are examined and investigated for diagnosis and relevant advices are given for management but the patients are not admitted as indoor patients as in a hospital or nursing home. Polyclinic is an institution of a group of doctors for examinations, diagnosis and advice to the patients belonging to various specialties in medicine. The basic difference of a Clinic from a hospital or nursing home is that the patients are not kept in its premises for diagnostic or other therapeutic purposes as is done in a nursing home or hospital.
3.5 Registered technical personnel (RTP) will mean a qualified personnel as Architect/ Engineer/ Planner/ Group of technical personnel/ Supervisor/ Plumber/ Electrician/ Mason/ Carpenter who has been enrolled/ licensed by the Authority.
4. Applicability of the Building Byelaws:
In addition to the provisions of GMDA Act, 1985 the Building Byelaws shall apply to the building regulations, activity, in the State of Assam under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority area.
4.1 Where a building is erected, the Byelaws applies to the design and construction of the building.
4.2 Where the whole or any part of the building is removed, the Byelaws applies to the whole building whether removed or not.
4.3 Where the whole or any part or the building is demolished the Byelaws applies to any remaining part and to the work involved in demolition.
4.4 Where a building is altered the Byelaws applies to the whole building whether existing or new except that the Byelaws applies only to part if that part is completely self contained with respect to facilities and safety measures required by the Byelaws.
4.5 Where the occupancy of a building is changed, the Byelaws applies to all parts of the building affected by the change.