DEFINITIONS

1. Short title, applicability and commencement 

(aa) These rules may be called the Kerala Municipality Building Rules, 1999 
(ab) They shall apply to all Municipalities in the State. 
(ac) They shall come into force at once. 

2. Definitions 

(1) In these rules unless the context otherwise requires - 

A. 'Access' means the way to a plot or building; 

B. 'Accessory building' means a building attached or detailed to a building on a plot containing one to more accessory uses; 

C. 'Accessory use' means any use of the premises subordinate to the principle use and customarily incidental to the principal use; 

D. 'Act' means the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994 (20 of 1994); 

E. 'Advertising sign' means any sign any sign either free, supported or attached to a building or other structure which advertises an individual, a firm, a society en establishment or a product displayed on the said premises for identification purposes; 

F. 'Alteration' means a structural change, such as an addition to the area or height or addition of floor/floors or mezzanine floor within any existing floor ******or change of existing walls or construction of existing walls or construction of concrete beams and ******** amounting to structural change or construction of internal walls for room/rooms which amount to change in the occupancy group of the building under these rules, or closing of any required means of ingress and egress to the building; 

G. 'Apartment' means a part of a building intended for any type of independent use including one to more rooms or enclosed spaces located on one or more floors or parts thereof in a building, intended to be used for residential purpose and with a direct exist to public street, road or highway or to a common area, leading to such street, road or highway. This word is synonymous with residential flat. 

H. 'Appendix' means the appendix to these rules; 

I. 'Approved plan' means the set of drawings and statements submitted under the rules for obtaining development permit or building permits and duly approved by the secretary. 

J. 'Basement floor' means the lower storey if a building below or partly below the ground floor. This word is synonymous with cellar; 

K. 'Bathroom' means a room or cubicle for bating; 

L. 'Building' means any structure for whatsoever purpose and of whatsoever material constructed and every part there of whether used for human ******** or not and includes foundations, plinth, walls, floors, roofs, chimneys, plumbing and building services, verandah, balcony, cornice or projections, part of a building or anything affixed thereto or any wall enclosing or intended to enclose any land or space and signs and outdoor display structures. 

M. 'Building line' means line which is away from the street boundary and upto which the main wall of the building facing that street may lawfully extend, no portion of the building may extend beyond this line except as prescribed in these rules; 

N. 'Carpet area' means usable floor area excluding staircases, lift wells, escalators, ducts, toilets and air conditions plant room or electrical control room; 

O. 'Ceiling' means the internal roof/lining of any room; in case there is not such lining, the roof membrane hall constitute the ceiling. 

P. 'Chief Town Planner' means the Chief Town Planner to the Government of Kerala; 

Q. 'Chimney' means an upright shaft congaing and encasing one or more flues; 

R. 'Conversion' means the change of one occupancy group into another occupancy group; 

S. 'Corridor' means an exit serving as a passageway communicating with separate rooms or with different parts of a building. 

T. 'Coverage' means the maximum area on any floor of the building excluding cantilevered open balconies, it does not include the spaces covered by- 

i. Garden, rockery, well and well structures, plant, nursery, water pool, swimming pool (if uncovered), platform around a tree, tank fountain bench and the like; 

ii. Drainage, convert, conduit, catch-pit, gully, drainage chamber, gutter and the like; and 

iii. Compound wall, gate, slide, swing, uncovered staircase, areas covered by sunshade and the like; 

U. 'Depth of plot' means the mean horizontal distance between the front and rear plot boundaries; 

V. 'Development of land' means any material change on the use of land brought about or intended to be brought about by filling up of the land and/or water bodies or changing from the existing former use of the land, layout of streets and foot paths, sub-division of land for residential plots or for other uses including layout of internal streets, conversion of well land and developing parks, play grounds and social amenities of the like, but does not include legal partitioning of family property among helrs and construction of wells. 

W. 'Development plan' means any general planning scheme for the local area as a whole or any detailed town planning scheme for any specified area prepared under the Town and /country Planning Act in force; 

X. 'Drain' means a sewer, pipe, ditch, channel and any other device for carrying of sewage, offensive matter, polluted water sullage, waste water, rain water or sub-oil water and any ejectors, compressed air means sealed sewage mains and special machinery or apartments for raising, collecting expelling or removing sewage or offensive matter to the sewage outfall; 

Y. 'Drainage' means the removal of any liquid by a system constructed for the purpose; 

Z. 'Dwelling' means a building or a portion thereof which is designed or used wholly or principally for residential purposes; 

(aa) 'Dwelling unit' means a room or suites of rooms designed and intended for habitation by an individual or household in which facilities for cooking may not be provided; 

(ab) 'Exit' means a passage, channel or means of egress from any building, storey or floor to a street or other open space of safety; 

(ac) 'External wall' means an outer wall of a building even though adjoining a wall of another building; it also means a wall abutting on an interior open space of any building; 

(ad) 'Factory' means any premises including the precincts thereon used or proposed to be used for any purpose as defined under the Factories Act, 1948 and which comes under the purview of the said Act; 

(ae) 'Family' means a group of individuals normally related in blood or connected by marriage living together as a single house-keeping unit and having common kitchen arrangements; Customary resident domestic servants shall be considered as adjunct to the term 'family'; 

(af) 'Floor' means the lower surface in a money on which one normally walks in a building. 

Note:- The sequential number of floor shall be determined by its relation to the determining entrance level. For floors at or wholly above ground level, the lowest floor in the building with direct entrance form road/street adjoining round shall be termed as ground floor. The other floors above ground floor shall be called in sequence as first floor, second floor, third floor etc. With number increasing upwards. If there are more the one ground level and road/street entrance is available from more than one of these levels then the floor at the lowest ground level shall be deemed as the ground floor; 

(ag) 'Floor area' means the built up area of a building at any floor level; 

(ah) 'Floor Area Ratio (FAR)' means the quotient obtained by dividing the total floor area in all floors by the area of the plot; 

(ai) 'Flue' means a confined space provided for the conveyance to the outer air of any product of combustion resulting from the operation of any heat producing appliance or equipment employing solid, liquid or gaseous fuel; 

(aj) 'Frontage' means side or part of a side of a plot which abuts on a street; 

(ak) 'Front yard' means an open space extending laterally along the front side (main ground floor entrance side) of a building and forming part of the plot; 

Note: where there are more than one entrance to a building, the entrance giving access to the major portion of a ground floor shall be considered as the main entrance. 

(al) 'Gallery' means an intermediate floor or platform projecting from a wall of an auditorium or a hall providing extra floor area, additional seating accommodation, etc. 

(am) 'Garage' means a building or portion thereof, used or intended to be used for the shelter, storage or repair of any mechanically propelled vehicle; 

(an) 'Ground floor' means the lowest storey of a building or which there is an entrance from the outside of an adjacent ground or street. 

(ao) 'Government' means the Central or State Government. 

(ap) 'Head Room' means the clear vertical distance measured from the finished floor surface to the finished ceiling surface; where a finished ceiling is not provided, the underside of the joists or beams or tie beams shall determining the upper point of measurement; 

(aq) 'Height of building' means - 

i. In the case of flat roofs, the vertical distance measured from the ground level to the highest point of the building. 

ii. In the case of pitched roofs, the vertical distance measured from the ground level up to the point where the external surface of the outer wall intersect the finished surface of the slopping roof; 

iii. In the case of gabled roofs, the vertical distance from the ground level up to the mid-point of the highest point of the side wall and the ridge of the roof; and 

iv. In the case of the dommed roof, the vertical distance from the ground level to the highest point of the dome; 

v. 'Height of room' means the vertical distance from the floor and the lowest point of the ceiling. 

(ar) 'Height of room' means the vertical distance between the floor and the lowest point on the ceiling; 

(as) 'Hut' means any building constructed wholly with country burned brick in mud mortar, sun dried bricks, mud, wood, bamboo, thatch, tile, light roof, asbestos cement sheet or with any of them; 

(at) 'Lift well' means the unobstructed space within an enclosure provided for the vertical movement of the lift car(s) and any counter weights(s) including the lift pit and the space for top clearance; 

(au) 'Loft' means a residual space in a pitched roof, or any similar residual space, above normal floor level without any direct staircase leading to it which may be constructed or adopted for storage purposes; 

(av) 'Mezzanine floor' means an intermediate floor in any storey over-hanging and over-looking a floor beneath; 

(aw) 'Open space' means an area forming an integral part of the plot left open to the sky; 

(ax) 'Operational construction' means a construction whether temporary or permanent which is necessary for the operation, maintenance, development or execution of any of the services essential to the life of the community as declared by the Central or State Government from time to time; 

(ay) 'Owner' is respect of land or building, means the person who perceives the rent fro the use of the land or building or would be entitled to do so if they were let and includes: - 

i. An agent or trustee, who receives such rent on behalf of the owner or is connected with any building devoted to religious or charitable purpose; 

ii. A receiver, executor or administrator or a manager appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction to have the charge of or to exercise the rights of the owner; 

iii. Mortgagee in possession; and 

iv. A lessee in possession; 

(az) 'Parapet' means a low wall not more than 1.2m in height built along the edge of a roof or a floor; 

(ba) 'Parking space' means an area enclosed or unenclosed, sufficient in size to park vehicles, together with a drive connecting the parking space with a street or alley and permitting ingress and egress of vehicles; 

(bb) 'Passage way' means a means of access; 

(bc) 'Pathway' means an approach constructed with material, such as bricks, concrete, stone, asphalt or the like; 

(bd) 'Permit' means a permission or authorization in writing by the Secretary to carry out the work; 

(be) 'Plinth' means the portion of a structure between the surface of the surrounding ground and surface of the floor, first above the ground; 

(bf) 'Plinth area' means area of the building at the plinth level, does not include the area of open porch uncovered staircase and the like; 

(bg) 'Plot' means a parcel of piece of land enclosed by definite boundaries; 

(bh) 'Pollution Control Board' means the Kerala State Pollution Control Board; 

(bi) 'Porch' means a canopy supported on pillars or otherwise and used for the purpose of pedestrian or vehicular approach to a building. 

(bj) 'Rear yard' means the utility open space extending laterally along the rear side of the plot and forming part of the plot; any side other than rear if used as utility open space shall be deemed as rear yard. 

(bk) 'Re-development of land' means the revision or replacement of an existing land used and population distribution pattern and the clearance and building of the area according to a development plan. It involves the reduction or increase of population densities; the acquisition and clearance of deteriorated buildings, the repair, modernisation and provisions of sanitary facilities, water supply and electricity provision of street, parks or other public improvements and preservation of predominantly built up area that are in good condition; 

(bl) 'Registered Architect/Engineer/Town planner/Supervisor' means an Architect/Engineer/Town planner/Supervisor registered or deemed to have been registered as such under these rules; 

(bm) 'Road' means any highway, street, lane, pathway, alley, passageway, carriageway, footway or bridge whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public have a right of passage or access uninterruptedly for a specified period; whether existing or proposed; 

(bn) 'Row building ' means a row of building with only front and rear open spaces with or without interior open spaces; 

(bo) 'Secretary' means the Secretary of a Municipality; 

(bp) 'Section' means a Section in the Act; 

(bq) 'Semi-detached building' means a building detached on three sides; 

(br) 'Service lane' means a lane provided at the rear or side of a plot for service purposes; 

(bs) 'Service station' means a place where no automobile repairing is done but only washing, cleaning and oiling of automobile take place; 

(bt) 'Set back line' means a prescribed building line drawn with reference with the central line of a street on the street side of which nothing can be erected or re-erected; 

(bu) 'Shop' means a building or part of a building where articles of food and personal, domestic and household use and consumption are sold and goods of any kind are ordinarily sold. It does not include a workshop; 

(bv) 'Side yard' means an open space extending laterally between any side of a building and the boundary of the plot facing that side other than front and rear/utility and forming part of the plot; 

(bw) 'Site' means a plot and its surrounding precincts; 

(bx) 'Stair cover' means cabin-like structure with a covering room over a staircase and its landing built to enclose only the stairs for the purpose of providing protection from weather and not used for human habitation; 

(by) 'Story' means the position 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 space between any floor and the ceiling next above it; 

(bz) 'Street' means a private street or a public street synonymous with road and giving access to more than one plot or one building. 

(ca) 'Street line' means the line defending the side limits of a street; 

(cb) 'Street level' means the level at the centre line of the street; 

(cc) 'Structure' means anything that is built or constructed or building of any kind or any piece of work, artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner. The term structure includes 'building'; 

(cd) 'Sunshade' means a sloping or horizontal structural overhand usually provided over openings in external walls to provide protection form sun and rain. 

(ce) 'Tenement' means part of a building intended or used or likely to be used as dwelling unit; 

(cf) 'To erect' means - 

i. To erect a new building on any site whether previously built up or not; 

ii. To re-erect any building of which portions above the plinth level have been pulled down or destroyed; and 

iii. Conversion from one occupancy to another; 

(cg) 'Travel distance' means the distance an occupant has to travel to reach an exit; 

(ch) 'Unsafe building' means building which is structurally unsafe, insanitary or not provided with adequate means of egress or which constitute a fire hazard or are otherwise dangerous to human life or which in relation to existing use constitute a hazard to safely or health or public welfare, by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation or abandonment; 

(ci) 'Verandah' means a covered area with at least one side open to the outside with the exception of parapet, trellis, jally or grill work on the open side; 

(cj) 'Warehouse' means a building, the whole or substantial part which is used or intended to be used fro the storage of goods whether for keeping or for sale or for any similar purpose but does not include a store room attached and used for the proper functioning of a shop; 

(ck) 'Water Authority' means the authority delegated by the Government of Kerala to be in charge of the management of water and sewerage installations in the area; 

(cl) 'Water closet' or 'WC' means a latrine with arrangement for flushing the pan with water but does not include a bathroom; 

(cm) 'Water course' means an artificial or natural drainage canal; 

(cn) 'Yard' means an open space at ground level between a building and the adjoining boundary lines of the plot occupied and unobstructed except by encouragement of structures specially permitted by these rules on the same plot with a building. All yard measurements shall be the minimum distance between the front, rear and side yard plot boundaries including enclosed porches. Every pat of yard shall be accessible from every point of the same yard. 

(2) Words and expressions used but not defined in these rules but defined in Kerala Municipality Act, 1994 (Act 20 of 1994) shall have the same meaning assigned to them in that Act. 

3 Applicability - These rules shall apply to - 

(i) Any Public or private building as described below, namely 

(a) Where a building is newly erected, these rules hall apply to the design and construction of the building; 

(b) Where the building is altered, these rules shall apply to the altered portion of the building; 

(c) Where the occupancy or use of a building is changed, these rules hall apply to all parts of the building affected by the change; 

(ii) All lands which is proposed to be developed or redeveloped for construction of buildings. 

(iii) Where addition or extension is made to a building existing at the commencement of these rules, the rules shall apply to the addition or extension only but for the purpose of floor area ratio calculation the existing building shall also be taken into account.