Fire Safety

Fire NOC Fees in Punjab: What the 2024 Act and Rules Charge, by Building Type

Name: Secured Engineers Private Limited — Noida (Delhi NCR)
Address: Supertech, Astralis Supernova, Sector 94, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301, IN
Telephone: +91 70099 85817

23 October 2026 · 6 min read · by Secured Engineers Editorial Team

Title card reading Fire NOC Fees in Punjab, with the Punjab Fire and Emergency Service Act 2024 named underneath. — Title card. Not a photograph of a Secured Engineers site.

The Punjab Fire and Emergency Service Act, 2024 does not print a rupee fee for the Fire Safety Certificate. Section 23(2) says the certificate is issued "upon payment of such fee, as may be prescribed", so the amount sits in rules and portal notifications. What the Act does print is the penalty for having no certificate, given below by risk class. As of October 2026.

Where does the Act put the fee?

The Act names the fee in four places and fixes none of them. Each time it leaves the amount to rules made under the Act.

Section 23(2): the owner or occupier procures the Provisional and Final Fire Safety Certificate from a Nominated Authority "in such manner and upon payment of such fee, as may be prescribed".
Section 24(2): a person proposing to construct a building applies for approval of the firefighting scheme to the Director or an authorised officer "in such Form, along with such fee, as may be prescribed".
Section 27(1): a Qualified Agency licence is granted on payment of a prescribed fee. This fee is paid by the agency, not by you.
Section 28(4): owners and occupiers of all buildings pay a fee for, among other things, "the grant of certificates".

We tried to read the fee document linked from the state fire portal, firenoc.lgpunjab.gov.in, on 23 October 2026. The portal did not respond, so we could not confirm a current schedule from a primary source. We have therefore left rupee fee amounts out. Fee figures quoted by consultancy websites are not the authority's own, and some predate the 2024 Act.

What does the Act charge if you have no certificate?

Section 22(1) lets the Government classify sites, premises and buildings as low, medium or high risk by notification. Section 42 then sets the consequence of having no Provisional Certificate, no Final Certificate or no renewal. The table below is read from the Act's text. It lists the maximum fine the Act allows, not what an officer will levy in a given case.

Risk class	No certificate or renewal (s.42)	Certificate got by misrepresentation (s.44)
Low	Notice first. Fine up to ₹15,000 if the certificate is not obtained within sixty days of the notice. Then a forty-five-day notice, then sealing.	Fine up to ₹10,000 and cancellation of the Final Certificate; fresh certificate within forty-five days or sealing.
Medium	Fine up to ₹15,000 at the first instance, with a notice. Sealing if not obtained within sixty days.	Fine up to ₹15,000 and cancellation; fresh certificate within forty-five days or sealing.
High	Fine up to ₹25,000 at the first instance. On sealing, an additional ₹10 per square metre of covered area on all floors.	Fine up to ₹25,000 and cancellation; fresh certificate within forty-five days or sealing. Buildings dealing with explosives, dangerous or poisonous substances face a separate order under s.44(4).

The area-based charge applies only to high-risk buildings. For a high-risk factory with 10,000 square metres of covered area, the s.42(3) additional fine would be up to ₹1,00,000 on top of the first fine. This is arithmetic on the Act's rate, not a quote.

Three more charges apply once you hold a certificate or are building:

Section 43: a building under construction that ignores an inspection notice pays ₹10,000, plus a daily amount of up to ₹500 (low), ₹1,000 (medium) or ₹2,000 (high risk).
Section 45: a periodic return filed late attracts ₹5,000, plus a daily amount of up to ₹100, ₹300 or ₹500 by risk class. The fine is collected with the renewal fee.
Section 46: misrepresenting facts in a return also draws a fine.

How does the fee vary by building type?

The Act varies consequences by risk class, not by industry label. Which class your factory falls in is decided by the Government notification under section 22(1), not by this guide. Ask the Fire Officer or Nominated Authority for the class in writing before you budget.

The fee schedule itself may use other variables such as covered area, height or occupancy group. We could not confirm that for Punjab from a primary source. The documents that decide your fee are the same ones the fire office asks for anyway:

the sanctioned building plan, with covered area and height that match the fire application;
the NBC occupancy group of each block, since the Act treats words it does not define as having their National Building Code 2016 meaning (section 2(2));
whether the building stores or handles dangerous substances, which pushes it towards the high-risk end.

Fire tax is a separate item. Section 28(1) allows a fire tax on owners of land and buildings, collected by the local authority with property tax. It is not the certificate fee.

What does a certificate cost over its life?

The fee is paid per certificate, so validity decides how often you pay. Section 23(4) leaves validity to rules and says it shall ordinarily be not less than three years, unless prescribed otherwise for specific risk categories. Rules reported in July 2025 (notification No. 06/05/2025-2LG1/401, as summarised by TeamLease RegTech) give five years for low risk, three for medium and one for high risk. We have not read the notification itself, so confirm it with the department.

A three-year certificate issued by the Bathinda fire station in March 2026, published on a district government site, asks the owner to apply for renewal at least one month before expiry. That is one issued certificate, not a rule.

On timelines, section 23(3) says the Fire Officer must decide within the time notified under the Punjab Transparency and Accountability in Delivery of Public Service Act, 2018, or give written reasons. We did not find the notified number of days, so we do not state one.

How do you confirm the fee before you budget?

Get the risk class in writing from the Fire Officer or Nominated Authority.
Take covered area, height and occupancy group from the sanctioned plan.
Open the fee document on the state portal, or ask the district fire office for the notified schedule and the date of the notification.
Ask which fee applies to each step: firefighting scheme approval, Provisional Certificate, Final Certificate and renewal.
Add the fire tax and any local-authority charges separately.

Our Fire NOC document readiness checklist shows which documents you hold and which are missing. The fee is rarely the largest cost. A scheme that goes back for redesign after the pump room is cast costs far more, and the fire fighting installation is the bigger line in any budget. The multi-state view is in our Fire NOC guide for Punjab, Haryana and UP.

How Secured Engineers helps

We design the fire scheme in-house and file the approvals in-house, including Fire NOC, CEIG and DISCOM net-metering. MEPF and solar can sit under one contract, so the fire scheme, the electrical load and the rooftop plant are drawn by one team. We work from offices in Noida and Ludhiana, with 535+ projects across 18+ states and an 89.77% repeat-client rate.

On fees, we do not quote the authority's charge for you. We tell you which risk class and covered area the application will use, read the current schedule with you, and put the amount in your compliance budget next to the design and installation cost. Our Fire NOC assistance covers the scheme, the filing and the inspection.

If you want the fee, risk class and document list checked against your drawings, WhatsApp us, call +91 70099 85817, or ask for a free quote. The state-specific process is on our Punjab Fire NOC page.

Frequently asked

Is there a fixed Fire NOC fee in the Punjab Act of 2024?

No. The Act leaves the fee to rules. Section 23(2) says the Provisional and Final Fire Safety Certificate are obtained on payment of such fee as may be prescribed, and section 28(4) lists certificate fees among the charges owners pay. The rupee amounts are in rules or portal notifications, so confirm the current schedule with Punjab Fire and Emergency Services before budgeting.

What is the penalty for running a factory without a fire safety certificate in Punjab?

Section 42 sets the ladder by risk class. Low risk gets a notice first, then a fine up to ₹15,000 and a forty-five-day notice, then sealing. Medium risk gets a fine up to ₹15,000 at the first instance. High risk gets up to ₹25,000, and an extra ₹10 per square metre of covered area if the building is sealed. These are maximums, as of October 2026.

Who decides whether my factory is low, medium or high risk?

The Government notifies the risk classification under section 22(1) of the Act. The fire office applies it to your building. Because the penalty, the validity period and the Private Fire Safety Manager requirement for high-risk buildings all depend on the class, ask the Fire Officer or Nominated Authority to state it in writing before you file.

How long is a Punjab fire safety certificate valid?

Section 23(4) says validity is prescribed and ordinarily not less than three years, unless rules say otherwise for specific risk categories. Rules reported in July 2025 give five years for low risk, three for medium and one for high risk. We have not read the notification itself, so confirm your building's period with the department.

Does the fire tax count as part of the Fire NOC fee?

No. Section 28(1) allows a fire tax on owners of land and buildings, with a possible cess, collected by the local authority along with property tax. The certificate fee is a separate charge under sections 23(2) and 28(4). Budget the two separately and ask the local authority and the fire office for each.