The one-time initiative to grant exemption and regularise buildings with plan violations of specified limits has met with a lukewarm response in the city.
The State government had issued guidelines for granting exemption and regularising plan violations in buildings constructed before July 1, 2007 and the Tiruchi Corporation has recently asked owners of such buildings to get their properties regularized under the initiative.
The Corporation in coordination with the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) would initiate appropriate action and seal buildings that have not been regularised and also buildings, constructed after July 1, 2007, with plan deviations.
As per the guidelines issued by the government, plan deviations relating to floor space index (FSI), road or street width violations, front, rear and side setback violations in buildings constructed prior to July 1, 2007 would be regularised, subject to various conditions and on payment of the stipulated fee. Though there were enquiries with regard to the modalities of the scheme, not many applications have been received from building owners, according to sources in the Corporation.
Although there were several buildings with plan violations, the restrictions on the extent of the violation made such buildings ineligible for exemption under the initiative.
The extent of violation with respect to minimum required road width should not exceed 20 per cent.
And, Front, rear and side setback violations should not exceed 50 per cent of the required minimum. Similarly, FSI should not exceed 50 per cent of the maximum allowed limit.
The government has also stipulated the rate of fee for grant of the exemption for various types of buildings.
No building with any encroachment including aerial encroachment on to a public road or street, on a poramboke land, on local authority lands, open space and recreational areas, water bodies and land affected by the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1978( Tamil Nadu Act 24 of 1978) will be considered for exemption. No developments in the aquifer recharge area restricted for development shall be considered for exemption.
Applications with the specified documents and fee should be submitted to the competent authority, the Corporation or the Directorate of Town and Country Planning.
The Corporation has recently announced that it has taken up a survey to identify buildings with plan violations and it remains to be seen whether this would prompt more building owners to come forward to avail the regularisation initiative.
