The deregulation cell had asked BIS to formulate various parts of the existing NBC in the form of handbooks and take them out of the Code, including the fire safety part. This is the second case when the Cabinet Secretariat has asked BIS to change the rules. The last one was to withdraw the notification related to the revised seismic code.As part of the government’s deregulation drive, the Deregulation Cell under the Cabinet Secretariat has asked BIS to take matters related to sections such as governance, development control norms and fire safety out of the NBC and leave these to the state governments and municipal authorities, as they are competent to formulate these norms.However, the Technical Committee of BIS in its last meeting had recommended that the government retain the “Fire and Life Safety” section in the NBC, which is being revised. “While taking such a decision, the committee also observed that from the recent incidents in the country and across the world, it is clear that fire safety is an important aspect and buildings which are not planned/designed/maintained for the intended purpose can turn into death traps; hence this should be addressed sincerely in the code, as every life is precious,” the minutes of the meeting mentioned.The panel also recommended that it should be part of the “building code” rather than a separate handbook.The committee has accepted several suggestions of the deregulation cell, including a provision for dividing a city into fire zones, removal of height restrictions and relaxation in the requirement of sprinkler systems for all low-hazard and small-scale industries. “The committee has agreed to modify the provisions where the suggestions have merit. But any relaxation in fire safety norms should be avoided for the sake of public safety,” a panel member said.This is the second “direct instruction” from the Cabinet Secretariat’s deregulation cell to BIS after recently asking the standards body to “immediately” withdraw a notification related to the seismic standard, said people aware of the development.Some committee members said that when the draft NBC 2025 was ready for publication after more than two years of work by experts, the deregulation cell wrote to all the states saying that it is not mandatory for them to follow the NBC. The letter dated June 25, 2025, said, “The NBC is not legally binding. It is a voluntary code for reference. It is not a ‘code’ in the legally binding sense… The subject of land and buildings is listed in List-II (State List) in the Constitution...Therefore, matters like buildings and FAR/FSI norms, setbacks, ground coverage, parking, green areas, fire regulation, etc., as well as other aspects covered in the NBC are within the exclusive legislative and executive jurisdiction of the States.“Even now, the NBC is voluntary in nature. So, the code can exist, and states can make changes in it. The government should not eliminate a technical committee of experts, which has been set up by a statutory entity,” said Ajit Kumar SM, president, Karnataka Professional Civil Engineers Act – Steering Consortium.