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R.Y. Narayanan

COIMBATORE, Nov. 14

IN an apparent bid to give a push to the real estate sector, the Tamil Nadu Government has decentralised the authority for according approvals to the promotion of layouts in Corporation, Municipalities and town panchayat areas.

The State Government has said that the powers for clearing applications for development of house sites up to five acres would be vested with the Local Planning Authority (LPA) and the Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning at the district level to ensure speedy clearance.

The Government has said that for areas under the LPA, the concerned applications would be dealt with at the LPA office. For other areas, the applications have to be sent to the office of the Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning. The applications have to be routed through the concerned civic bodies like village or town panchayats, municipalities or corporation.

Mr N. Muruganandam, Coimbatore District Collector, said as per the earlier procedure it took up to a year to process applications seeking permission for promotion of layouts. But now, if the applications were accompanied by all requisite documents, the permission would be granted faster, with the local bodies according the sanction within 15 days and the LPA/Town Planning authorities giving the approval within 30 days.

However, the real estate developers here feel that though the authority for sanctioning applications for development of layouts has been decentralised by vesting powers at the district level, this would be applicable only to future development of plots while promoters of layouts who have been stuck with unsold plots because of the ban on registration of unapproved layouts without a no objection certificate (NoC) from concerned local bodies would not be benefited by it.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr C.V. Thambidurai, President, Coimbatore District Real Estate Developers' Association, said according to the previous rules, the power to approve development of sites was centralised at the office of the Director of Town and Country Planning in Chennai and there were instances where applications seeking approval were kept pending for up to five years. The new rule now seeks to drastically cut down the time by decentralising the authority and empowering officers at the district level. But this would be applicable for development of sites up to 5 acres of land.

He said it was not clear as to whether the speedy clearance of applications for development of sites would also cover land that required re-classification or was applicable only to land classified as residential land. He said a major problem faced by the real estate developers was getting the land, classified as agricultural or industrial land, re-classified as residential area since it involved multiple agencies and was a time-consuming affair.

But the business dynamics of real estate promotion has undergone a major change after the previous State Government issued a G.O(Ms) No 150 dated 22.9.2000 which banned conveyance of lands, converted as house sites without approval, unless accompanied by a NoC from a competent authority in local bodies or Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) as applicable.

Mr Thambidurai said, in earlier years, the project promotion evolved over a period of time with the developers marketing the layouts and making payment to the landowners as sale progressed and the buyers seeking approval after construction. But the business of real estate promotion has undergone a drastic change where all approvals need to be obtained first before the site could be promoted. This involved a huge investment upfront by the developers, which only a few could afford.

(The present government has also tightened the rules regarding construction of houses in unapproved sites by making it mandatory to get building plan approval and completion certificates before even power connection could be given. But the civic bodies would give building plan approval only if the site was approved.)

He said the real estate promoters wanted the G.O. No 150 be scrapped or it may be made applicable only with effect from the date it was issued i.e. September 22, 2000. Unapproved house sites, which were developed prior to that date and for which the value was fixed by the Registration Department should be exempted from the GO if the real estate industry is to revive.

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