Permissions granted before UDCPR: what the savings rule protects

UDCPR swept the previous rulebooks away on the day it commenced. It did not sweep away the permissions those rulebooks had already granted.

The short answer. Chapter 1, Regulation 1.5, UDCPR as updated 30 January 2025^** preserves any development permission granted, and any development proposal on which action was taken, under the erstwhile regulations. Those remain valid unless UDCPR specifies otherwise. The owner may carry on developing exactly as approved, and for that limited purpose the old regulations stay in force. The protection is not unlimited: an unstarted permission must be renewed within its one year validity, and renewals cannot run beyond three years.

What the regulation says#

Three protections sit in Chapter 1, Regulation 1.5^**, and they do different jobs.

A granted permission survives. Notwithstanding anything in UDCPR, a permission granted under the erstwhile regulations is valid and continues to be valid.

So does a proposal that had progressed. The regulation defines "action taken" to include the issuance of a letter for payment of Development and other Charges after approval of the proposal in principle. A file that had reached that stage is inside the protection, not outside it.

The owner may finish under the old code. It is permissible for the owner to continue developing the project as approved under the erstwhile regulations in full, and the regulation states that for that limited purpose the erstwhile regulation shall remain in force.

The clock, which is the part people miss#

So the savings clause is a bridge with a length, not a permanent exemption. A permission issued before commencement, never acted on and never renewed, lapses. One renewed diligently still runs out of road at three years.

What changes this answer#

• Whether action was taken. A proposal that reached the charges letter after in-principle approval is protected; one that did not is not.
• Whether work commenced. The lapse provision is framed around work not being commenced within the validity period.
• COVID-era proposals. Chapter 1, Regulation 1.5^** carries specific transitional provisions for proposals that could not be sanctioned because of the pandemic, including a disposal deadline of 31 January 2022, after which applicants had to submit fresh proposals under UDCPR.
• What the current regulations say instead. The protection runs "unless otherwise specified in these regulations", so a provision of UDCPR that speaks directly to the point can displace it.

The related rule most people want next#

Chapter 1, Regulation 1.4, Applicability of Regulations, sub-clause (vii), is the companion protection and it is broader in one way. Nothing in UDCPR requires the removal, alteration or abandonment of a lawfully established existing use or occupancy, or prevents it continuing. The exception is where the Authority considers the building unsafe or a hazard to adjacent property. Lawful existing use is protected; danger is not.

What this does not tell you#

Which code applies to a parcel with no permission yet is a different question, answered by the applicability map and by who the Authority is for that area. And a permission's date does not tell you what was actually built under it, which is a filings question. What MahaRERA filings tell developers covers reading that record, and every Maharashtra project's approvals, extensions and progress are published free at reragenie.com/projects.

Source: Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations for Maharashtra, UDCPR as updated 30 January 2025. Sanctioned under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.