Govt. to get tough on unapproved buildings

The government has decided to ban registration of sale deeds for resale of unapproved buildings after December 21.

Any owner who fails to submit an application online for regularisation of unapproved buildings by December 21 will not be able to register the sale deed of such property after the deadline.

Power supply, water supply and sewer connections will be disconnected for such buildings.

Speaking at a public consultation, Housing and Urban Development Minister Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan urged residents to make use of new schemes to regularise unapproved buildings.

“The schemes will help the weaker sections of society who want to own a home,” said Mr. Radhakrishnan.

CMDA Member-Secretary C. Vijayaraj Kumar said approval for buildings would be checked by officials concerned before registration of sale deeds after December 21.

Self-declaration scheme

“Resale of no building will be permitted without proper approvals. This is a voluntary disclosure scheme. We trust the residents. It is also a self-declaration scheme. A large number of those who have a sanctioned plan but have deviated from it are expected to regularise their buildings. Buildings that do not have any sanction will also be regularised,” said Mr. Vijayaraj Kumar.

“For ordinary buildings, we will permit an FSI [Floor Space Index] of 2 under the regularisation scheme. The permissible FSI is 1.5. Minimum road width will not be required for regularisation of ordinary buildings. For special buildings, the minimum road width has to be 7 metre for the regularisation scheme. For continuous building areas such as Mylapore, George Town and Chintadripet, setback is not required for regularisation of unapproved houses. But commercial buildings in continuous building areas will not be regularised if the front setback is less than 1.5 metre,” said Mr. Vijayaraj Kumar.

“At least 90% of the buildings are expected to be covered under the scheme. Almost 50% relaxation in the FSI has been given for multistorey buildings. Relaxation of other planning parameters is expected to benefit many residents. We are also collecting feedback from stakeholders on the regularisation scheme. We will make changes to help the maximum number of residents. Residents need not worry even if their application is rejected. There is a provision for appeal also,” said Mr. Vijayaraj Kumar.

After the applications for regularisation of buildings constructed on or before July 1, 2007 are submitted online at www.tnbuildingreg.in, the officials concerned will screen the documents submitted and issue regularisation order for the buildings.

In the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the CMDA member-secretary will issue the regularisation order for special buildings, group developments and multistorey buildings. The Chennai Corporation Commissioner will issue regularisation order for ordinary buildings in the city. The commissioners of municipalities, executive officers of the town panchayats and the block development officers (BDO) of panchayat unions will issue the regularisation order for ordinary buildings in their jurisdiction. In other parts of the State, application for regularisation of multistorey buildings will be received by the DTCP.

For special buildings and group developments, the member-secretary and the deputy director of the DTCP will receive applications. For ordinary buildings, the BDOs of village panchayats or executive authorities of the urban local bodies will issue the regularisation order.

The number of unapproved buildings in the Chennai Metropolitan Area is estimated at five lakhs.

Unapproved layouts can be regularised online at www.tnlayoutreg.in. The last date for application is November 3, 2017.