The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) are the nodal agencies responsible for issuing land layout approvals in Tamil Nadu. The jurisdiction of the CMDA is confined to Chennai and its peripheral areas. DTCP jurisdictions are confined to all other parts of the State. Approval for layouts up to 10 acres (increased from 5 acres) is accorded by the Local Planning Authority (LPA), a sub-committee of the DTCP.
Layout approvals over 10 acres are sanctioned by the head office of the DTCP in Chennai. There is no adequate legal awareness among the general public with respect to Panchayat layouts. In fact, there is no terminology called ‘Panchayat Approval’ as only LPA’s and the DTCP have the authority to accord layout sanctions. The panchayat president of any panchayat does not have any power to sanction land layouts within that respective panchayat.
Conditions for granting
layout approvals:
1. An NOC from the Tahsildar stating that it is not a poromboke land, that it is not covered under Land Reforms Act of 1961, Land Ceiling Act of 1978, and that the site will not be affected by floods, if any, during the monsoon
2. Documents from the Tahsildar highlighting FMB/Town Survey Sketch, patta/chitta/town survey land records, ‘A’ register extract; village map copy, details of any water flowing through the site
3. For sites exceeding 2,500 sq.m., a site plan ensuring 10 per cent reservation for Open Space Reservation (OSR) land is a must.
4. If an electric/telephone line passes through the site, an undertaking should be produced for its realignment.
5. An NOC from the concerned department is mandatory if the site lies within a distance of:
a) 15 metres from water bodies (PWD or concerned department)
b) 30 metres from a railway line (Railways)
c) 90 metres from a compost yard (local body)
d) 90 metres from a burial ground/ crematorium (Health Officer)
e) 300 metres from a quarry (AD, Mines)
f) 500 metres from a crusher (AD, Mines)
g) 500 metres from an airport (Airport Authority of India)
7. Topo layout plan
Land layouts sanctioned by the CMDA from the year 2000 can be verified online on the CMDA website www.cmdachennai.gov.in. Similarly, land layouts sanctioned by the DTCP from the year 2011-2012 can be verified online on the DTCP website www.tn.gov.in/tcp/.
The author is a Chennai-based advocate and an advisor to the Government of Kerala
