Committee’s posers on building regularisation

The HC-appointed Monitoring Committee on Friday sought clarity on section 113-C of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, besides judicial sanction for exempting buildings constructed on or before July 1, 2007. This comes in the wake of the State Government passing guidelines under Section 113-C of Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 earlier this month for exemption of unauthorised buildings from regulations.

The guidelines will cover any building developed on or before July 1, 2007 and deviated from the Floor Space Index, setback requirements and road width of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971.

At a meeting here on Friday, non-official members expressed concern that the issue was not discussed in the monitoring committee. Sources said the government had informed the SC that the regularisation scheme was a one-time affair with the cut-off date as February 28, 1999. But now it has framed guidelines to exempt the buildings developed on or before July 1, 2007.

Monitoring Committee member M G Devasahayam said it was now for the High Court to give judicial sanction on whether buildings built after Feb 28, 1999 to July 1, 2007 could be regularised. He said the cut-off date of July 2007 clashed with the cut-off date of February 1999 prescribed in the High Court order dated August 23, 2006.  Interestingly, the monitoring committee on Friday cleared two proposals for buildings built before 1999. The panel also  discussed involving architects and academic institutions in enforcements to curtail illegal buildings.