Big Breaking: Punjab withdraws controversial Unified Building Bye-Laws 2025
Restores Earlier Rules
By Zinnia Balli
Chandigarh, April 27, 2026: In a significant policy reversal, the Punjab government has withdrawn the Punjab Unified Building Bye-Laws, 2025 with immediate effect, restoring the earlier framework of the 2021 Building Rules and 2018 Bye-Laws.
The notification, approved by the Governor under multiple provisions of key state laws—including the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, and the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976—formally cancels the rules notified on December 15, 2025.
As a result, the earlier system of rules has automatically come back into effect. This means the Punjab Building Rules, 2021 and the Municipal Bye-Laws, 2018 will now be followed again, just as they were before the 2025 rules were introduced.
The decision comes in the backdrop of a legal challenge before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by petitioners Harbinder Singh Sekhon and Jasinder Sekhon. The plea, filed through advocate Shehbaz Thind and argued by senior advocate R. S. Bains, had flagged alleged legal, procedural, and infrastructural shortcomings, including lack of environmental impact assessment.
Click the link to read notification copy:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z5nZiTHf01ACYWndCeRpJ_IjgVobMsWI/view?usp=sharing
During the proceedings, the petitioners pointed out serious legal and infrastructural shortcomings in the 2025 policy, including alleged lack of proper application of mind and absence of an environmental impact assessment.
Taking note of these concerns, the High Court had stayed the operation of the impugned notification on December 24, 2025.
The latest notification withdrawing the bye-laws is being seen as an acknowledgment of the issues raised in court.