CMDA sleeps as developers tamper with sealed illegal buildings

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

After Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority sealed 90 illegal buildings, a few developers have tampered the seal of these buildings and leased it out to tenants illegally.

Interestingly, many of these buildings have been leased out to major commercial giants who hardly have any inkling about the status of the building.

As per records available in the website there is a list of 90 buildings that have been sealed from May 2009 to February 2014 but there are no details available on how many buildings have been de-sealed.

Interestingly, there is no monitoring mechanism prevailing as of now to know how many buildings have been sealed which have en-nerved some developers to flout the rules and tamper with the seal.

A CMDA official said that soon the list of de-sealed buildings would be available on the website. “We will have them online,” he said.

He said that the buildings are not being de-sealed by CMDA, it is done only after orders from the court or government.

There are also several instances where developers are violating the norms by getting a High Court order to de-seal illegal building on the pretext of trying to rectify the structure and then leasing it out to tenants without bringing down illegal structures as well as not taking CMDA permission.

Meanwhile, CMDA is planning to initiate police action against those developers who have tampered with the seal. Interestingly, on Monday a building in Perungudi Industrial estate was re-locked by CMDA. “We are also planning to lodge a police complaint in this regard,” the official said. But sources said a police complaint won’t be enough. “There is a need to file a First Information Report against such developers,” a builder on condition of anonymity said.

Even as the courts have been slamming CMDA for its failure to initiate action against these buildings, it is learnt that most of the illegal structures mushroom despite being sealed or given lock and notice due to the connivance of officials.

And CMDA hardly has any details about how many lock and seal notices have been issued to buildings. “It is difficult to ascertain,” a source said. But then it shield many buildings that have violated the development regulations.

A builder says that the powerful land sharks escape the law but small time builders find themselves in the net.

M G Devasahayam, a monitoring committee member said that the state has no enforcement mechanism. “Whatever is there is a patchwork. Cities like Bombay, there is atleast minimum enforcement but when it comes to Chennai the law is openly flouted. There is no fear of law,” he said.

He said that the monitoring committee has not been convened after High court struck down the Government Order on Regularisation policy. He said with neither direction or any official intervention, most of the officials are turning a blind eye and making hay while the sun shines.