BHUBANESWAR: The state government has launched an exercise to find ways for regularisation of apartment projects that are facing hurdles due to deviation from sanctioned plan or construction without obtaining necessary approvals, causing significant inconvenience for home buyers.
Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja had recently chaired a meeting with officials of the Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority (ORERA), Housing and Urban Development and Law departments and other stakeholders, to discuss the apartment regularisation scheme and provisions of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) that need to be complied with for its implementation.
During the meeting, he asked both H&UD and Law departments to work in coordination to prepare a draft for the purpose, which will be considered legally tenable.
“Following the meeting that took place a few days back, the departments have been asked to carefully draft the proposal within next two to three weeks for further deliberation on the matter,” an official from the H&UD department, privy to the development, said. He informed that the H&UD department will have the major role in finding ways for preparation of the draft.
Sources said the apartment regularisation scheme provides scope for regularisation of buildings, built without prior approval or in deviation from sanctioned plans.
The state government in its notification issued on February 1 this year, had allowed registration of apartments completed before the commencement of the RERA in the state, prior to February 25, 2017. However, officials said it was stayed by the Orissa High Court to ‘remove any ambiguity’ in the application of the Odisha Apartment (Ownership and Management) Act, 2023, in which there is a clear bar on registration of an apartment if it does not have an occupancy certificate (OC) and if the association of allottees of the apartment has not been formed and registered.
Apart from this, the chief secretary also issued direction to work out provisions in matters pertaining to use of government land for approach roads in private projects. “The department has been asked to work out the matter within a fortnight. As per initial discussions, steps will be taken to hand over such roads to the projects, provided the land is not in use and the developer is willing to pay double the price of the land in current valuation,” the H&UD official said.