TN regularisation scheme a non-starter as only five submit applications

Chennai:

Less than five applications were received in the last three months to regularise illegal buildings in the Chennai Metropolitan Area after the state government issued rules and guidelines on June this year to grant amnesty to unauthorised buildings built before July 1, 2007.

Sources revealed that the amnesty scheme had few takers as the government has imposed multiple infrastructure and amenities charges as penalty before regularising the buildings. The last date for submitting applications is December, 2017.

Ajit Kumar Chordia, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association (CREDAI), Tamil Nadu, told Express that the penalties are too high that those who want to regularise their buildings would rather go in for demolition than pay up the money.

The provisions like multiple infrastructure and amenities charges and other costs have kept the violators at bay. Even the violators in T Nagar have not applied for regularising their buildings, he said.

If one goes by the applications under the regularisation scheme, then it should be termed as failure, he said. Former national president of the Builders' Association of India R Radhakrishnan agrees with it. “Why would anyone pay double the cost of the value of his land to get his building regularised,” he reasons.

M G Deivasahayam, High Court appointed Monitoring Committee member of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority says that the government has lost credibility by going in for another regularisation scheme. “The new regularisation scheme has made people think that they can continue defying the development rules by paying bribe to officials rather than paying a hefty sum to the government,” he said.

“The buildings in T Nagar which have violated all development regulations are continuing for the last two decades. When no action has been taken till now, they will feel that they can continue to do so either by approaching courts or paying bribe to officials,” he said.

The only losers are those who paid up money to get their building regularised. “They would be cursing themselves of coughing up huge sum of money to get their buildings regularised,” he wondered.

Meanwhile, four months after the rules for regularising unapproved plots and layouts were notified on May 12, 2017, the applications for regularisation of unauthorised layuts (other than CMDA limits) from across the state is 834 while that of individual plot registration is 5,800. the applications recieved for regularisation of sub-division is 1640. Meanwhile in Chennai Metropolitan Area the total application applicatiom recieved for regularising unapproved plots and layouts is around 3,100