CHENNAI: In a move aimed at easing purchase of land for major infrastructure projects, the Tamil Nadu government has framed new rules to the land pooling scheme as per which the consent of only 50% of owners will be required to acquire the land. However, if more than 50% of owners oppose the bid to acquire land for a project, the scheme will be dropped, according to the proposed rules.
The rules, once notified, could speed up development work in TN as several projects have been stalled due to non-availability of land. The new rules would also allow private parties to acquire land through the land pooling scheme. The proposed rules are being introduced after TN amended the Town and Country Planning Act to revamp the provisions of the Land Pooling Area Development Scheme.
The scheme is a way of consolidating land for development of projects by making land owners partners in development. The scheme was introduced in 2018 to acquire land for housing and other infrastructure projects. The amendment came into being after a study of Gujarat, Andhra, Haryana and Delhi models of land pooling.
Final proposal in 9 months of announcing initial scheme
The proposed rules specify stages of implementation of the scheme under Section 39 of Town and Country Planning Act. Under the proposed rules, a draft land pooling scheme will have to be published by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority or other planning authority within nine months from the date of publication of its intention in the district gazette or website after which objections to the scheme, if any, could be raised within two months.
The objections would be scrutinised and changes, if any, will be made to the scheme and sent to the government. Once the scheme is approved by the government, the appropriate planning authority will send in a copy of the approved scheme to the registration department and revenue department for updating and mutation of revenue records without any cost to the owners.
Within nine months of announcing the preliminary scheme, a final proposal will be prepared after which grievances or appeals will be heard in the next two months. Following this, the final scheme will be published and the process of providing land pooling ownership certificate will begin.
The certificate will contain details of land owners’ original plots and the final plot, including ownership details along with sketch of the reconstituted plots with schedule of boundaries of each owners. The permission of development for private as well as government organisation is valid for a period of eight years from the date of permission from the respective authority.
‘No cost’
Once the scheme is approved, revenue records will be updated and mutated without any cost to the land owners