The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) is set to crack the whip on big time builders who deviate from building plans or do not install fire safety equipment and other mandatory facilities.

A new licensing system to be introduced soon will make these builders accountable. Builders taking up high-rise projects, group houses, commercial complexes and apartments will have to get a licence from the MCH to execute these bigticket projects. After several deliberations, a draft on the licensing system for the builders has been prepared and an official notification is likely to be issued in a week.

“We will notify the order on licences in a week. Once it is notified, builders have to submit a licence certificate along with the building application,’’ MCH additional commissioner (planning) K Dhananjaya Reddy told ‘TOI’ on Tuesday.

If builders violate mandatory guidelines, their licence would be cancelled and they will be debarred from carrying out construction activity for five years. A fine of up to Rs 5 lakh would also be imposed on the erring builders.

As per the New Building Rules, which came into existence in March, 2006, it is mandatory for builders constructing apartments or commercial complexes to be licence holders. As of now, only architects and other technical persons take a licence from MCH. Though the building rules said licence to the builder is mandatory and should be introduced with immediate effect, more than 150 apartments and commercial complexes including about 10 high-rise buildings got the nod from the civic body on condition that the builder would get a licence once the policy is finalised.

The draft finalisation took more than three months as there were differences of opinion over the eligibility of builders. As per the proposals, inexperienced builders should be either engineering graduates or architecture graduates. Experienced builders should be I-T assessees as builders for at least three to four years. Some officers pointed out, reputed builders who had done quality work earlier will get priority. The percentage of occupancy certificates obtained in earlier ventures will also be considered. “Some builders who completed earlier ventures successfully can engage qualified people,’’ MCH sources said.

Builders will be graded by a panel headed by the MCH commissioner, and including chief city planner and chief engineer of MCH, representatives of director of town and country planning department.