Unregulated PG and hostel accommodations pose a serious urban safety risk. Suggest a regulatory framework balancing municipal autonomy with citizen safety.

The collapse of a paying-guest (PG) building in Delhi's Satya Niketan, killing seven, has led the Supreme Court to consider pan-India safety norms for hostels and PGs [5]. Such housing sits in a regulatory blind spot — residential premises run as commercial lodging. The task is to protect life under Article 21 without hollowing out municipal autonomy under the 74th Amendment [1].

Why the risk is acute

• Unauthorised conversion: extra floors, basement alterations, blocked entry/exit and deviation from sanctioned plans — precisely the parameters the Court proposes to scrutinise nationwide [5].
• Statutory vacuum: the Model Tenancy Act, 2021 governs landlord-tenant contracts, not shared PG/hostel lodging as an occupancy class [3].
• Recommendatory standards: NBC 2016, Part 4 (Fire and Life Safety) binds only where a State or ULB adopts it into building bylaws [2].
• Enforcement deficit: NITI Aayog has flagged an acute shortage of urban planners and technical staff in ULBs [4].

A three-tier framework

• National floor (standards): BIS/MoHUA to notify a dedicated PG-hostel occupancy category within the NBC — egress width, fire NOC, occupant density caps, structural certification [2].
• State enabling law: a model PG and Student Housing Act on the Model Tenancy Act template, since land and local government are State List subjects, leaving States free to adapt [3].
• Municipal delivery: mandatory ULB registration and licensing of every PG, a public digital register, and annual third-party structural and fire audits — squarely within the Twelfth Schedule functions of land-use regulation, buildings and fire services [1].

Balancing autonomy and safety: graded penalties and sealing powers with ULBs, resident grievance helplines, university tie-ups for verified listings, and capacity support — filling planner vacancies and GIS-based building databases [4].

A pan-India code should set the safety floor, not the ceiling: the Centre standardises, States legislate, municipalities enforce. Such cooperative federalism converts a tragedy-driven judicial intervention into durable institutional reform, advancing both Article 21 and SDG 11 on safe, inclusive cities.