This guide explains the Uttar Pradesh Lifts and Escalators Act, 2024 in plain language, based on the Act and on press coverage of its rules. It is general information, not legal advice. Check the official portal of the Directorate of Electrical Safety, or speak to a qualified adviser, before you act on any single point.
What the Uttar Pradesh Lift Act Is
For years, lift safety in Uttar Pradesh depended on general electrical and building rules, while several other states already had their own lift laws. The Uttar Pradesh Lifts and Escalators Act, 2024 fills that gap. It sets out who may install and maintain lifts, how lifts are registered, what safety equipment they must carry, and what an owner must do after an accident. Press reports say the rules were notified in July 2024 and the online registration portal opened in October 2024.
People searching for the UP lift act often use the word licence. In practice the Act works through registration and authorisation: lifts are registered with the state, and the people who build and service them must be registered too.
Who the Act Applies To
The Act places the main duties on the owner, meaning the person or body that owns or operates the lift. That covers housing societies, builders and developers, malls, hospitals, hotels, offices, factories and government buildings. Private and public premises are registered separately, and press reporting on the registration drive shows individual houses among the registered buildings, so a home lift should not be assumed to be exempt.
Lift manufacturers, installers and maintenance agencies have their own obligations. Only registered persons may erect a lift, and the agencies that service lifts must be registered with the state as well. If you are hiring anyone to install or maintain a lift in Uttar Pradesh, their registration is the first thing to ask about.
Lift Licence and Registration Under the UP Lift Act
The registration steps, as described in public reporting on the Act, run in this order:
- The owner applies through the state's online portal and registers the lift with the Directorate of Electrical Safety.
- Once the lift is installed and commissioned, the owner notifies completion in the prescribed form, with the fee, before the lift is put into use.
- Lifts that already existed when the rules came into force had to be registered within six months, and late registration can attract a penalty.
- A lift that is moved or altered needs fresh registration.
Press coverage has reported a registration fee of 5,000 rupees per lift, valid for five years, with government lifts exempt from the fee but still required to register. Fees and timelines can change, so confirm the current figure on the portal before you pay or budget.
Maintenance Duties for Lift Owners
The Act is firm on maintenance. According to press summaries of its provisions, owners must make sure that:
- The lift is maintained at least once a month by an authorised, competent person or agency
- A fitness certificate is issued and a logbook entry is made after each maintenance visit or fault repair
- A visible "not in use" notice is displayed until a technical fault is fixed
- Owners of lifts in public premises submit their annual maintenance contract to the state and keep the logbook available on request
- A passenger evacuation drill is held at least twice a year
- A lift is taken out of service once it reaches the life span set by its manufacturer
Monthly visits are a higher standard than many older maintenance contracts offered. If your current contract specifies quarterly or irregular visits, ask the agency how it will meet the monthly requirement.
Safety Equipment the Act Expects
The Act also lists equipment that a lift must carry. Public reporting on the law mentions an automatic rescue device, which moves the cabin to the nearest landing and lets the doors open if power fails. It also lists adequate cabin lighting, two-way communication, an emergency bell and displayed instructions for emergencies. Cameras inside lifts and disabled-friendly design for lifts in public premises are part of the requirements as well.
Newer lifts are normally ordered with most of these features. Older lifts may need work. Whether a rescue device can be added to an existing lift depends on its controller and drive, so the first step is an inspection by a qualified technician, not a quotation over the phone.
Accidents, Inquiry and Compensation
The Act treats an accident seriously. Press summaries say the owner must inform the District Magistrate and the local police station within 24 hours of any injury or death. The lift may be touched only for rescue until the District Magistrate allows it back into use in writing, based on a technical report from the electrical inspector.
The District Magistrate orders an inquiry by an electrical inspector and an executive magistrate. After the report, the owner has to pay compensation to the injured person or the family of the deceased. Owners of lifts in public premises must also hold insurance that covers passenger accidents, except for lifts in government premises.
What Housing Societies and Builders Should Do Now
If you manage a building in Uttar Pradesh, a short checklist will tell you where you stand:
- List every lift in the building with its make, year of installation, capacity and number of floors.
- Check on the portal whether each lift is registered, and register any that are not.
- Confirm that your maintenance agency is registered and that its contract provides monthly visits.
- Inspect each lift for a rescue device, lighting, two-way communication and an emergency bell.
- Start a logbook if there is none, and ask the agency to issue a fitness certificate after each visit.
- Schedule the evacuation drills and keep a record of them.
- Check that your insurance covers passenger accidents if the building is a public premise.
Choosing a Registered Maintenance Agency
The Act makes the choice of maintenance agency a compliance decision, not only a price decision. Ask to see the agency's registration, and compare contracts on what they actually promise. A comprehensive contract covers parts and labour, while a non-comprehensive one covers labour only. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are signing.
Look for a named number of monthly visits, a written breakdown response process, and a list of the safety items checked each time: door sensors, brakes, the overload device, the alarm and the rescue device. An agency that cannot show its logbook format is unlikely to meet the record-keeping duties in the Act.
Common Mistakes Lift Owners Make
Most compliance problems come from a handful of habits, and each one is easy to fix once you know about it.
- Treating the maintenance contract as the whole job. A contract is a promise, while the logbook and the fitness certificates are the proof that the service happened.
- Assuming an older lift is exempt because it was installed before the Act. Existing lifts had to be registered as well.
- Registering one lift in a building and forgetting the service lift, the car lift or the second tower.
- Leaving the rescue device or the intercom untested. A device that has never been tried may not work on the day it is needed.
- Skipping the evacuation drill because nothing has gone wrong. The drill is there to prepare staff and residents before something does.
- Hiring the cheapest maintenance agency without asking about registration, monthly visits or response time.
Why Compliance Is Worth the Effort
Registration and monthly maintenance are not only paperwork. A lift that is serviced every month, with its door sensors, brakes and overload device checked each time, is less likely to stop between floors or injure a passenger. For a housing society, a clean record also makes a difference when a resident, a buyer or an insurer asks about the building's safety. For a builder, handing over a registered, documented lift is part of handing over a finished building.
How Carrymax Lifts Can Help
Carrymax Lifts manufactures lifts at its facility in IMT, Faridabad, and installs, repairs, modernizes and maintains them for homes, hospitals, hotels, showrooms and factories. During a site survey we can review an existing lift's controller, doors and cabin, and talk through what it would take to add safety equipment such as a rescue device or two-way communication. We can also advise on maintenance scope, so that a contract matches the monthly service the Act expects.
We cannot register a lift on your behalf or confirm another agency's status, so check registrations directly on the official portal. Noida lies in Uttar Pradesh, and our work there is described on the page for lift manufacturers in Noida. Our page for lift manufacturers in Delhi NCR covers the neighbouring region, and owners in the state capital can read about lifts manufacturers in Lucknow.
Sources and Where to Verify
This guide draws on press reporting about the Act and its registration drive, including a summary of what the bill mandates from ThePrint and a report on the registration drive from The Realty Today. For the exact legal text, current fees and the registration portal, use the official Uttar Pradesh government sources and the Directorate of Electrical Safety.