SRA Cracks Down on 219 Mumbai Rehab Buildings Without OC

Mumbai: With the state govt rolling out an amnesty scheme to regularise buildings without an Occupancy Certificate (OC), the SRA has issued notices to more than 200 buildings across the city that lack an OC but have been handed over to eligible slum dwellers. SRA data shows there are 219 SRA rehab unit buildings without OC across the city’s 24 administrative wards. Due to this, slum dwellers do not receive corpus funds to maintain their rehab buildings, and developers often force them to take possession of rehab units before obtaining an OC so they do not have to pay rent, officials said.

With the state govt rolling out an amnesty scheme for regularising buildings without an Occupancy Certificate (OC), the SRA has issued notices to more than 200 buildings across the city that do not have an OC but have been handed over to eligible slum dwellers. SRA data shows there are 219 SRA rehab unit buildings without OC across the city’s 24 administrative wards. Due to this, these slum dwellers do not get corpus funds for maintaining their rehab buildings, and often developers force slum dwellers to take possession of rehab units before getting an OC so that they do not have to pay rent, officials said.

SRA CEO Mahindra Kalyankar, who is pushing for policy reforms in the SRA, said the authority is cracking down on the builders’ practice of giving possession of rehab units to slum dwellers without obtaining an OC. “SRA has started investigating such instances, and criminal cases have also been registered against some developers. After the completion of the rehab building in an SRA scheme, developers must obtain an OC. But some developers are giving possession of the rehab flats to the slum dwellers without OC,” Kalyankar said.

Notices have been issued under Section 53(1) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966.

Officials said slum dwellers, who have been waiting for years to get homes, are falling prey to the pressure tactics of the developers and are taking possession of the houses without an OC. “Due to this, these slum dwellers do not even get corpus funds for maintaining their rehab buildings. In some cases, developers are also trying to force the slum dwellers to take possession so that they do not have to pay rent,” officials said.

“It was also found that there is a lack of water and other facilities in rehab buildings due to lack of OC, so the SRA has started this crackdown.”

Section 53(1) empowers planning authorities to issue a notice for the removal or alteration of unauthorised development (illegal construction). The notice requires the owner to restore the structure to its original condition within a specified period, not less than one month. “If the structures are not regularised, then speaking orders will be issued after giving the developer a hearing for demolition of the unauthorised structures, and criminal cases can also be filed,” an official said.

In Dec, in a relief to residents of buildings without an OC, DCM Eknath Shinde announced in the Legislative Assembly that the Revised Occupancy Certificate Scheme will be implemented to regularise about 20,000 such buildings in Mumbai. This will benefit more than 10 lakh residents who have been deprived of OC for years, Shinde said.