CHENNAI: More than 52,600 unapproved layouts have been registered under the regularisation for which the deadline expired on Saturday, a top housing department official said. The regularisation scheme for layouts, the last date for which was extended two times, will not be extended again and those who missed the deadline will have to regularise as per the norms which have a variety of restrictions, including payment of Open Space Reservation (OSR) charges.
It is learnt that the online web portal of regularisation of layout scheme will be disabled on Saturday midnight. The regularisation scheme was introduced for unapproved layouts on “as is where is’ basis. This also comes in the wake of many people trying to misuse the regularisation scheme by trying to regularise plots formed after 2016 along with plots prior to that year. However, there is hope for the 22 lakh plot owners in the 52,600 layouts as they can continue to regularise the plots, the official said.
This means that the plot owners whose layouts have not been registered will have to shell more money now. This will also prove a problem in registering their property or any transactions pertaining to it as registration department will decline registering unapproved layouts or plots. In Chennai alone, there have been more than 4,000 applications for regularising unapproved layouts, sources added. The regularisation scheme was introduced on May 4 last year and it was extended in October 2017 due to poor response. It was again extended in May this year.
However, there were issues with regularisation of unapproved plots and layouts which were approved by panchayats and local bodies. Shaikh Moideen, a resident of Tirunelveli said he had applied for regularisation of his plot which was earlier approved by the panchayat president. “I was given a slip and later when I submitted all the documents, they did not provide me with any document as proof for submitting my application,” he rued.
“Despite fervent appeals before the directorate of town and country planning in Tirunelveli, my pleas were ignored. I don’t know the status of my application,” he says and urged the housing secretary to probe the issue.
Sources also indicated that the failure of unapproved layouts to register under the regularisation scheme now solely rests with local bodies who should have identified how many illegal layouts and plots are there. As the regularisation scheme comes to an end, now there will be no unapproved layouts or plots in Tamil Nadu and if there are any they have to be approved following due process.
No more excuses?
1 The deadline for regularisation scheme ended on Saturday midnight
2 A total of 52,600 layouts have been registered under the regularisation scheme
3 A total of 22 lakh plots come under the 52,600 layouts and they are still eligible to apply under regularisation scheme
4 Those who have not registered under the regularisation scheme will have to seek approval