4-time rise in fine on illegal constructions…..Sharad Vyas
MUMBAI: Unscrupulous builders and tenants carrying out illegal constructions must now get ready to pay a heavy price for their crime.
Unscrupulous builders and tenants carrying out irregularities in their flats and buildings now must get ready to pay a heavy price.
A day after it announced a modest budget, endeavoring to explore fresh sources of revenue, the BMC on Saturday issued a circular, raising the penalty on illegal constructions by four times. The rule applies to any addition or alteration made in high rises as well as work carried out beyond permissible limits in housing societies, buildings and projects. This notification marks the withdrawal of the earlier circular (January 19) that decreed demolition of unauthorized floors without giving the owner or builder a chance to apply for regularization under the MRTP Act.
“At a time when the civic body is looking to explore fresh sources of revenue, it is only prudent to charge more for unauthorized work instead of demolishing them arbitrarily. The earlier circular was not in line with procedures laid out in the law,” said a BMC official.
Sections 52 to 54 of the MRTP Act lay down the law to penalize developers for irregular constructions and regularize unauthorized work.
A 1985 government circular empowers the civic body with the right to impose a fine on the accused to regularize work carried out beyond the approved plans and the penalty amount can range between 5% and 15% (in four categories) of the ready reckoner rate of the building. The amount is charged on a premium, 25% on the land rates of the project. But the new verdict has now revised the rates, starting from 20% and going up to 100% in the fourth category. “The rise will have a major impact (and act as a deterrent) as even the ready reckoner rates have also gone up manifolds,” said an official.
Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar, who knows regularizing illegal floors in buildings could be a source of big money for the BMC, has also introduced changes in two other categories of the penalty. First, a 30% fine for “change of utility in approved buildings”, and a second penalty for alterations, such as illegally added cabins and partitions and unauthorized excavation of project foundations. This last category will invite a fine of Rs 425 per sq m from the earlier Rs 400 per sq m, with the amount slated for a rise by 5% every year.
Last month, the commissioner issued a set of 11 rules that nullified the practice of allowing the regularization of illegal floors and filing of a police case for work beyond permissible limit.
Until then, the BMC would issue a notice under Section 354 of the BMC Act and then slap another notice under Section 53 (1) of the MRTP Act, directing the developer to restore the work to the original status and also gives him time to apply for the regularization of floors.