Could T Nagar be reclassified as commercial area to save illegal buildings?

C Shivakumar

Chernnai:

Chennai Metropolitan Development is facing a Hamletian dilemma on whether to act against the illegal buildings or again frame appropriate rules and guidelines after the High court has quashed two Government Orders that allowed regularization of illegal buildings built till July 1, 2007.

While CMDA officials are seeking the advice of advocate general on the issue before taking any steps, a section of traders in T Nagar have sought the reclassification of T Nagar area, where large scale illegal constructions are situated, to commercial zone and pass a special Government Order to legalise the buildings in the business establishment.

CMDA sources said one has to see the existing rules before thinking of any such move. “Is it possible or not is the decision to be taken by the government,” a CMDA source said.

The traders had been opposing any action against the buildings after it was sealed in 2012 following the diktat of Supreme Court. Interestingly, this also resulted in the passing of two Government Orders by the state government to legalise the illegal buildings under Section 113 C which was opposed by monitoring committee. They opposed the cut-off date to legalise erring buildings from July 27, 1999 to July 1, 2007 stating that such exemption is only one time measure.

M G Deivasahayam, a monitoring committee member who opposed the two government orders, stated that only 15 to 20 people have applied under the new regularization scheme as most of the people were not sure about the legal implications.

“Since it hasn’t taken off, let the CMDA start all over again from 1999 and reconvene monitoring committee meeting that was not held since the last six months. “They should go back to the 2006 judgement which okayed legalizing erring buildings built prior to July 27, 1999,” he stated.

He said there is no point on dragging the issue so that the violators could benefit. “This would result in chaos and more corruption,” he warned.

Interestingly, a rough estimate suggests that there were about three lakh buildings in the state which were unauthorisedly developed.  Even the court has hit out on this issue stating that if that was the position in the year 2000, now we are in the year 2014 and therefore, the number of unauthorized constructions would have got increased manifold primarily due to lack of attitude and responsibility on the part of the concerned statutory authorities, who deliberately turn a blind eye to prevent such kind of violation.

Deivasahayam said that monitoring committee had identified 1,500 to 2,000 multi-storied buildings that were the biggest violators. “When we were about to take action, there was protest and the government passed the GO,” he said.

Although, the court may have stepped up the pressure on CMDA to act, it does seem unlikely that the issue of illegal construction in Chennai could be sorted out in the coming years.