CMDA releases guidelines to regularise unapproved plots

CHENNAI: Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is all set to regularise over 5 lakh unapproved plots in and around Chennai bringing relief to realtors and landowners who had earlier violated town planning rules. The much-awaited revised guidelines by CMDA was released last week and has brought cheers among the real estate fraternity, who had been badly hit by the economic slowdown, GST, demonetisation and registration related legal hurdles pending before the Madras high court.

 It is learnt that more than 8000 applications were submitted for regularisation in the Chennai metropolitan area (CMA), which comes under the purview of the planning authority, but kept waiting, owing to lack of clear-cut guidelines and the now the decks are cleared for processing. However, plots and layouts located in water bodies, poramboke lands, open space reserve lands, parks and playfields, lands under high tension electric lines, lands encroaching roads and streets would not be regularised, read the guidelines issued by CMDA member secretary C. Vijayaraj Kumar.

“Not a single application of total 8,200 applications has been processed. On the other hand Directorate of Town and Country Planning(DTCP) received nearly 26000 applications. They started processing them,” an insider in the planning authority said. “Earlier, there was a confusion pertaining giving regularising power to the Chennai Corporation and other local bodies coming in CMA. “Now the CMDA member secretary has released the guidelines,” clarified a CMDA official.

According to the new guidelines, the applicant shall submit copies of layout, sale deed, patta and other documents to concerned local bodies. After in-principle approval from local body, CMDA shall inspect and scrutinize the applications and grant in-principal approval to layout framework.  Further, the CMDA will host the list of approved layouts on its website. Then the local body will regularise individual plots in the layout after collecting stipulated charges, the guideline order cited. The list of approved plots will be updated in both local body’s and CMDA’s website. The realtors who were left running pillar to the post for appropriate solutions over the years had welcomed the guidelines and asked to expedite the regularisation process.

“Due to some confusions, the CMDA has not started to collate applications. Now the guidelines would nudge them. We hope the process will commence coming week. We could not get building plan approval without regularisation order,” S. Ram Prabhu, secretary, Builders Association of India said.