PATNA, Sept. 12 -- A high-powered committee chaired by deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and including urban development and housing department (UDHD) minister Nitish Mishra on Thursday conducted a detailed review of the draft Bihar Building Bye-Laws 2026, seeking to streamline rules for faster, more transparent urban growth even as the Supreme Court has pressed the state for a report on the widespread commercial use of residential premises. The meeting, held in Patna, examined the draft's provisions with an emphasis on simplicity, transparency, effectiveness and public utility. Officials present included special secretary from the Union cabinet secretariat KK Pathak, Bihar chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit, principal secretary of UDHD Vinay Kumar and other senior officers. Chaudhary underlined that suggestions received from stakeholders would prove critical in refining the bye-laws into a more practical and citizen-friendly framework. Mishra described the draft as deliberately centred on transparency, simplified procedures, time-bound clearances and the principles of sustainable development. Its stated aim is to ease the building-approval process, enforce deadlines and accelerate planned, modern urban expansion across Bihar's cities in keeping with the state's changing urban landscape. The UDHD minister linked the exercise directly to chief minister Samrat Chaudhary's vision of a developed Bihar. Transparent and straightforward rules, he argued, would encourage construction activity and investment, expand infrastructure, stimulate economic activity and generate employment. The review acquires added urgency because the Supreme Court has sought a formal report from the Bihar government on the conversion and commercial use of residential properties-an issue that has repeatedly surfaced in urban centres and highlighted gaps in existing enforcement and regulatory clarity. The new bye-laws are being positioned by the state as a comprehensive response that could both regularise processes and deter unauthorised commercial encroachment on residential zones....