Sometime in May 2017 the State Government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development issued Government Order G.O. 78 for regularisation of unapproved layouts and plots by notifying the Tamil Nadu Regularisation of Unapproved Layouts and Plots Rules, 2017.
The Government initially gave six months for owners of unapproved plots and promoters of unapproved layouts, where at least a few plots had been sold before October 20, 2016, to apply for regularisation. But it extended the deadline twice – first for a year and second for 18 months from the date of issuing the Government Order.
The objectives behind issuing the order for regularisation of unapproved layouts and plots were to protect the interest of buyers and help local bodies bring about uniform development as regularisation of a few plots in unapproved layouts “would result in discontiguous pockets of development, causing enormous difficulty to local bodies to provide services to the regularised plots in isolation and therefore it is considered necessary to regularise these unapproved layouts and subdivisions in their entirety...”
Making it compulsory for owners of all eligible plots, the Rules said plot owners or layout promoters should apply to the local planning authority or the competent authority concerned for an in-principle of the layout before approaching the local body concerned for approval of plots.
In Coimbatore city, plot owners with land in unapproved layouts would have to first approach the Coimbatore Local Planning Authority to obtain an in-principle approval for their layouts before approaching the Corporation to regularise their plots.
Officials in the Corporation said in their estimation there were 1,785 unapproved layouts with over 74,000 plots within the city limits. Of the 74,000-odd plots, owners of 37,567 plots had regularised those under schemes launched by previous schemes, leaving only 37,023 unapproved plots.
And, of the 37,023 unapproved plots, owners of 11,262 plots had so far submitted applications by paying over ₹120 crore in development and regularisation charges.
Poor response
The Corporation had to date approved regularisation applications of 9,066 plot owners. The poor response in the city to the State Government’s scheme that is aimed at putting an end to the unapproved layout, plot problem is partly on account of the harassment that applicants face in the hands of the authorities concerned, say the Corporation officials, applicants and activists.
The harassment that a plot owner faces at the hands of the officials puts off other plot owners in the same layout from going in for regularisation, thus defeating the very objective with which the Government framed the Rules, says consumer activist K. Kathirmathiyon.
A plot owner, who approached the officials in the East Zone for regularisation is finding it difficult to process the papers even after he had paid the development and regularisation charges though another plot owner in her layout got his plot regularised without difficulty.
The plot owner said that after paying the money that runs into lakhs she was running from one office to another to submit additional papers as demanded by the East Zone officials.
That the Corporation officials were adopting one standard of approval for one plot owner and quite another for another owner though both held lands in a layout showed that all was not well with the approval process.
The additional details that the East Zone officials had sought from the plot owner were uncalled for because the in-principle approval given by the Coimbatore Local Planning Authority to a layout would commonly apply for all plots therein, adds Mr. Kathirmathiyon.
And, local planning authority or any other competent authority could give the in-principle approval to a layout only after following conditions laid out in the Rules (see box).
So, when a layout or a part thereof is not in water course or is not a part of the land proposed to be used for road, how is it that a plot therein will be, and, therefore, what is the necessity for the Corporation officials to send plot owners with in-principle layout approval on hand on another round of document collection, he asks.
Sources among the licensed building surveyors’ community say there have also been instances where Corporation officials have asked for more documents after asking applicants to pay money.
Left with little choice after paying in lakhs, the applicants yield to all that the officers demand.
Corporation officials say they have also come across instances of a few officials insisting on patta or town survey land record on the applicant’s name when the Rules clearly say that the officials can accept documents with the names of previous owners as well.
Review sought
Mr. Kathirmathiyon says that the number of complaints from applicants, particularly more from East Zone, suggests that there is more to the issue than what meets the eye and the Commissioner should review the progress in clearing regularisation applications in each of the five zones.
If the Corporation does not look into this, he may be forced to knock on the doors of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Mr. Kathirmathiyon added.
Efforts to reach the Corporation Commissioner for comment on the reasons for delay did not evoke a response.
