Amnesty scheme: DTCP, CMDA receive 1.7 lakh applications in last 5 days

According to an official source, the DTCP has received 6,000 applications seeking regularisation of layouts and 1.5 lakh applications for plot regularisation during the five days that started on Monday.  CMDA received 14,000 applications for plot regularisation and 121 applications for layouts. 

The Housing and Urban Development Department had rolled out the amnesty scheme on May 4, 2017, following real estate slump due to unavailability of land for construction due to a High Court order banning the sale and registration of unauthorised plots and layouts. But the scheme remained a non-starter for a while due to lack of awareness among plot owners.

However, the government gave an extension of six months in November and further extended the date till May 2, 2018. Later, the government extended the deadline for a further six months that ended on November 3. “To save innocent buyers of plots in unapproved layouts, the government gave a grace period between November 12 to November 16. “In total, the CMDA has received around 67,000 applications and DTCP has received around 6.4 lakh applications under the scheme,” a housing department official said.

Incidentally, DTCP and CMDA have received only around 4.9 lakh and 52,000 applications respectively during the 18 months that ended on November 3. “On average, DTCP receives 30,000 applications and CMDA received 2,800 applications per day. Now the awareness on the scheme has increased and the government should come up with a plan to help innocent buyers who have failed to apply under the scheme,” another official opined.

It is learnt that there are over 17 lakh unapproved plots in the state and less than half of the plot owners have applied to regularise their plots. Recently, the registration department mandated the copies regularisation approval to buy or sell the plots. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulation Authority (TNRERA) also mandated the TNRERA registration for regularised unapproved layouts. DTCP and CMDA have processed nearly 60,000 applications and generated more than Rs 510 crore and Rs 45 crore respectively.