C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:
A year after granting Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority the powers to issue planning permission for high rise buildings, the state government has done a U-turn. Now, the high rise buildings (taller than 18 metres) will again have to get the approval from the government, instead of the authority.
On Monday, the state government amended the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019. The amendment has overrode the government order (GO) issued on April 21, 2022, granting the powers to the authority in relation to high rise buildings. Prior to the 2022 government order, the power was vested with the state government. .
According to the new amendment, a multi-storied building panel of CMDA will now have to scrutinise the plans of high rise buildings and forward it along with the recommendations to the government for approval. The government will then issue an order if the permission is granted. This has brought cheer among the developers as they think it will put an end to waiting at multiple committees in CMDA to clear their files.
A developer on condition of anonymity said that it is easier to get the approval from the minister rather than having to go through multiple channels for approval. "If there are any grievances, now it could be resolved by the minister," the developer said.
The developers expect the government not to delay clearing the files. Usually, it takes more than a month once it is recommended by the multi-storied building committee and sent to the minister. President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) S Sivagurunathan says that the developers are expecting that the files would be cleared in the next 10 days once recommended by the multi-storied building committee. However, official sources said that it is hard to apply the timeline and it all depends on the MSB committee recommendations.
On April 21, last year, former housing secretary Hitesh Kumar Makwana through a Government Order gave powers to CMDA to give approvals to
buildings above 18 metres to 30 metres following the recommendation of the multi-storied building panel of CMDA. Anything above 30 metres, will have to be cleared by the High Rise Building panel, chaired by vice chairperson of CMDA (housing secretary), CMDA member secretary along with commissioners of Chennai, Avadi, Tambaram, municipality commissioners and executive officers of town panchayats. It also includes members from the departments which issue no objection certificate (NoC).
The then housing secretary Hitesh Kumar Makwana has justified the GO stating that there are no rules in TNCBR that the planning approvals have to be accorded by the government. But the present Housing Secretary Selvi Apoorva said that there have been flaws in the rules and it has been addressed by bringing in the amendment.
The Housing secretary said that the delay in calling for high rise buildings was to correct this flaw. Under the new amendment, high rise buildings in Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) the plan shall be scrutinized and forwarded to Government, with recommendation of a panel chaired by Member-Secretary of CMDA and those other than CMA by a panel chaired by Director of Town and country Planning.
It is learnt from developers that the applications for high rise buildings, which is above 30 metres height, are pending for nearly two months as the High Rise Building Committee, headed by the vice-chairperson of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority did not convene for nearly two months. According to developers, the work on more than 30 lakh to 40 lakh square feet of plots have yet to take off causing huge loss not only to the developers but also to the state exchequer. This has also impacted the employment opportunities for construction workers.
This apart there has been a huge pendency of the applications in Directorate of Town and Country Planning and Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority. This has forced the advisor to Tamil Nadu e-governance agency and former bureaucrat PWC Davidar to shoot down a
letter to the State housing secretary highlighting the poor performance by both the agencies in clearing applications.
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