Bhubaneswar, Odisha (June 2025): New govt rules claim to bring relief to those who are unable to monetize their land to meet urgent needs such as medical treatment, education, or other expenses and replace years of stringent rules that had frozen land transactions in many urban areas. This amendment allows part sale of plots up to 500 sqm without approval, easing land transactions for owners and developers, even with multiple co-owners. However, the sold plots cannot be used for real estate purposes, directly. Though the age-old Jokepal Jugaad will always remain open for smart deal-makers and officially civil messiahs.
ODA (Planning & Building Standard) Second Amendment Rules, allowing part sale of plots and without approval for patches of land up to 500 square meters in size. If a layout is already approved by authorities, no extra space needs to be left when plots are further split. Agricultural plots are exempt from sub-division layout rules if they retain their agricultural status and so land conversion process will now become a more lucrative source of income for land revenue officers, authorities & co, who’re already thriving inside very honest alternative systems!
Regulations still require all sold plots to have road access, which may hinder development in some regions with less politically affiliated builders. Moreover, the overlap with RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority) regulations could lead to legal ambiguities, as noted by some legal commentators and citizens.
Developers must leave some space open, depending on how big the plot is. Such open areas may be used for roads, public utilities, or parks. In case of town planning schemes, open space reservation requirements are waived for further sub-division of final plots.
FAR (how much you can build based on your plot size) depends on road width for most buildings. Such restrictions won’t apply to low-risk buildings (like small houses). Industrial buildings must provide loading zones, but no parking is needed for small plots up to 300 square metre.
Affordable Housing Requirements: Large land plots must keep 10 – 20% of the land for smaller, affordable plots – 10% if land is 0.4–1 hectare. 20% if over 1 hectare. The regulations are expected to significantly impact urban development by clearing plot registration backlogs, liquidation of fixed assets and streamlining construction approvals for big builders and developers. The small land owners and independent house builders can be grossly ignored in this whole new game.
Like many other states, ultimate goal here sounds like pushing more dwellers into housing societies and apartment blocks for total control over lifestyles of commoners and further ease items like surveillance and monopoly business for all stakeholders involved.
Official Link (as seen in June 2025): https://urban.odisha.gov.in/Notifications/rules