AI representational photoSrinagar- The Jammu and Kashmir Government has approved a uniform building permission fee structure across the Union Territory, bringing all Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Municipal Committees and Development Authorities under a common policy aimed at ensuring transparency and consistency in the building approval process. The revised fee structure, notified by the Housing and Urban Development Department, came into effect on July 29. Religious structures have been exempted from the building permission fee. According to the notification, any construction undertaken without obtaining prior permission will attract a compounding fee equivalent to 40 per cent of the prescribed building permission fee, in addition to the regular charges, wherever such cases are eligible for regularisation under the applicable rules. The order also bars Urban Local Bodies and Development Authorities from revising or altering the notified fee structure without prior approval from the Housing and Urban Development Department.