The Times of India               30.08.2013 

Civic body warns unregistered builders

PUNE: Builders in the city, who fail to register themselves with the Pune Municipal Corporation in the next two days, will not get the civic body's approval for their new construction projects from September 1 onwards.

Only 72 of the 1,000-odd builders in the city have registered themselves with the civic body, so far. Following which, the PMC is now considering not to sanction any new construction projects proposed by the builders who have not registered. The civic administration had started the registration process on August 1. The PMC had given a month's time to builders to register themselves.

The civic body decided to make the registration mandatory for builders after several buildings and walls collapsed in the city in June. The administration said there was no provision wherein the builders can be held responsible for accidents or poor quality work. According to the civic officials, if the builders are registered with the PMC, then, they can be held accountable for any mishap. At present, only the structural auditors and architects are registered with the civic administration. so that they can be questioned and held responsible for any mishap. The same process was introduced for the builders.

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak said, "As many as 72 builders have registered already. We will not accept building proposals from unregistered builders from September 1."

While introducing the registration process, the civic officials had said the registration system was on the lines of the Union government's Real Estate Bill, according to which each construction project should be registered with the local body. However, the civic administration's registration process will not be confined to a particular project. There will be no separate registration for projects but the builder will have to register themselves.

The builder will have to register only once, no matter how many projects he undertakes.

According to the registration rules, if the registered builder is found involved in wrong practices, he may be banned from undertaking further construction projects within the PMC limits. In case of any complaint, the builder will be called for a hearing and if the complaints are found to be true the builder is found to have made serious lapses in work, then his registration will be cancelled. The option to suspend the licence during the inquiry period is also available, the civic officials had said while launching the process.

Representatives of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (Credai) Pune metro said the registration process needs to be studied and discussed.

"We have not received any notice or circular from the PMC regarding the registration. We will have to study the proposal and the system. The legal aspects of the registration process also need to be checked," said Hemant Naiknavare, president of the Credai Pune metro.

Naiknaware said Credai's Pune metro unit has as many as 400 builders in the city are registered as its members, while around 400 to 600 more builders who are not members of Credai, would be operating in the city.

In the last four months, the city has registered as many as four major accidents of wall / toilet/ wada collapse, in which seven people lost their lives. Last year, an illegal building in Taljai area had collapsed killing 11 people. At present, the city has around 7.5 lakh properties which includes commercial and residential. Every year, the PMC receives around 4,500 proposals seeking construction permit.