CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is setting up a special task force to curb unauthorised constructions as the amnesty for unauthorised buildings is set to lapse again on December 20. It is learnt that only 600 applications have been submitted for regularising buildings built before 2007 while a rough estimate states that there could be more than three lakh buildings in Chennai Metropolitan Area built in deviation to the approved plan.
A top Housing department official said a Government Order had been passed on Monday to set up the task force. However, the Government Order could not be accessed by the Express.The formation of task force was initially mooted by the High Court-appointed monitoring committee 10 years ago, recalled monitoring committee member M G Deivasahayam. “It was one of the first recommendations put forth by us as there had been no check on unauthorised construction.”
The Housing department official said that the task force would monitor all unauthorised constructions in the city and ensure builders comply with regulations.The official said the government was looking at mechanisms similar to Section 22A which bans registration of unapproved plots. This comes as there is no stringent law to counter unauthorised constructions.
Meanwhile, the amnesty scheme for unauthorised buildings could not be implemented for the last one and half years as neither the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority nor the Chennai Corporation has got any stay on the Madras High Court order.
After Advocate General gave legal opinion to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to seek clarification against the Madras High Court order passed by Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice R Subramanian, it is learnt that the state has yet to get into the act. The legal opinion was given in two cases – one pertaining to approval through planning permission and another through the regularisation scheme.
As a result, government and private projects, which have setback violations and were started without any planning permission approvals, have been left stranded as the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Housing and Urban Development department and Chennai Corporation are shying away from regularising violations.
Deivasahayam said that there was confusion persisting over the current regularisation scheme. “The monitoring committee was set up by the Madras High Court to oversee the regularisation scheme to legalise unauthorised buildings built before February 2, 1999 under Section 113 A. While the entire process is being scrutinised and the monitoring committee is struggling to find its relevance under Section 113-C, a new regularisation scheme is giving amnesty to violators who have constructed buildings prior to 2007,” he said.
While the relevance of the High Court-appointed monitoring committee is over with the framing of Section 113-C, it would be interesting to see how the task force will perform, said Deivasahayam.Interestingly, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority woke up recently by fixing the responsibility on officials by delegating the powers to deputy planners and chief planners in granting approval to special buildings.
This was absent earlier and the officials could not be held responsible. “Now, they have to sign with their name and designation,” said a CMDA official. CMDA sources said that the cut-off date of February 2007 was taken up as the monitoring committee has made mandatory completion certificate for all buildings.With two amnesty schemes and a defunct monitoring committee, it is yet to be seen how the special task force would function.