The Hindu                 07.06.2013

759 unapproved layouts detected in Madurai

Public cautioned against fraudulent land transactions.

Realtors have been selling plots of doubtful legal validity to unsuspecting buyers, authorities say.

The
Local Planning Authority (LPA) has found that 759 unapproved layouts of
residential plots had either been sold or are in the process of being
sold in rural parts of the district.

Of these, 328
unapproved layouts were in localities under the jurisdiction of the LPA
and the rest under the Regional Deputy Director of Town and Country
Planning (RDDTCP). These violations came to light following an enquiry
conducted with respect to residential plots in village panchayats.
“There are chances of similar unapproved layouts in Melur and
Usilampatti municipalities also, apart from the Corporation limits which
had been expanded recently by annexing the nearby civic bodies,”
Collector Anshul Mishra, who chairs the LPA, told journalists at a press
conference here on Thursday.

He urged plot buyers to
be vigilant and make enquiries with the LPA as well as RDDTCP either in
person or over phone or through their e-mail addresses:
mlpa_ctcp@yahoo.in and dydtcpmdurgn@gmail.com before buying plots from
any of the realtors.

As per rules, every land
promoter must earmark a minimum of 10 per cent of the total extent of
land as ‘Open Space Reserve’ (OSR) area and use it for public purposes
such as parks and playgrounds. Apart from this, 20 per cent of the land
must be reserved for roads and one per cent for shops. If the total
extent of the land exceeded 10 acres, then the promoter should
additionally allocate five per cent of the property for public
utilities. “But these rules are flouted and many such incidents have
been brought to my notice in recent times,” he said.

Referring
to a recent inspection conducted by him at Agrini residential enclave
in the city following complaints of the promoter having sold a piece of
land earmarked as OSR area, he said that the police had registered a
criminal case against the developer.

The government
had framed rules to ensure planned development. “It is only when they
are not followed that people residing in unapproved layouts suffer from
issues such as clogging of drainage channels, rainwater stagnation,
congested roads, inability to lay underground drainage and so on,” Mr.
Mishra added.

He pointed out that some land
developers had promoted properties on the basis of “illegal” layout
approval granted by panchayat presidents who had no authority to approve
layouts. The LPA, RDDTCP and Director of Town and Country Planning
(DTCP) in Chennai alone were the competent authorities.

The
role of local bodies was limited to the extent of granting ‘site
approval’ (permission accorded for constructing a building on an
individual plot after ascertaining its suitability) and building plan
approval to commercial buildings (below 2,000 square foot) and
residential buildings (below 4,000 square foot).

Buildings
constructed beyond the stipulated measurements must have obtained plan
approval from the LPA. “But in violation of these rules, the Madurai
Corporation had granted selective approval to much bigger buildings in
2010. While some applications for approval had been forwarded to the
LPA, the others had been cleared by the Corporation,” he said.

Action
had been initiated against the erring officials as well as the
promoters and the issue was before the High Court. Cautioning land and
residential house buyers to be doubly careful, he advised them to demand
an affidavit from the promoters with regard to land ownership as well
as encumbrance certificates for at least 20 years.