HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will hereafter make it mandatory for applicants to obtain an occupancy certificate for buildings.
“Applicants will not get permission for power and water connections without the certificate, GHMC commissioner Somesh Kumar said.
The occupancy certificate is optional for individual buildings in plots up to 100 square yards and with a height up to seven metres.
Most people do not apply for occupancy certificates as they don’t think it is necessary. Keeping in view the idea of everyone having an occupancy certificate, the GHMC has made it a mandatory affair.
The number of applications for construction of buildings is going up by the year. In the last four and a half years, the GHMC received as many as 50,424 applications. In 2011-12, an amount of `332 crore was collected towards 8,746 applications that were received. As many as 12,663 applications were received in 2013 and the GHMC generated `500 crore and in 2014, the number of applications stood at 10,025 taking the amount to `524 crore.
Somesh Kumar said the GHMC was studying the pros and cons of making the occupancy certificate mandatory. To add clarity to the issue, the GHMC is conducting a survey as to why people have not obtained the certificate. The corporation is also verifying whether the existing buildings have been assessed with regard to property tax, etc.
On the Gurukul Trust lands issue, the GHMC commissioner said some people in the area have permission while others do not. “The main issue is that some people have obtained permission from court while others have begun construction as the matter is pending in the court,” Somesh Kumar said.
The GHMC is preparing a list of buildings constructed on the Trust lands as most of them are under litigations. In this context, the district administrations of Hyderabad and Rangareddy, the HMWS&SB and the corporation are preparing a consolidated report. The report will be submitted to the state government for further orders.