Office Order No. 13/2015, Clarification on Certain Development Regulation Parameters

Scope and affected applicants

Office Order No. 13/2015 dated 29 May 2015 applies to the examination of planning permission applications under the Development Regulations forming part of the Government-approved Second Master Plan. It guides Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority planning staff and affects applicants proposing the types of development covered below.

Institutional developments

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority provides these directions for institutional proposals:

• Applications by charitable trusts must be processed according to the nature of the development, not the identity of the applicant. The Development Regulations do not distinguish charitable trusts from other applicants.
• For OSR, officers must first examine whether the land has been subdivided and then apply the relevant building parameters.
• Agricultural land subdivided in acres or cents does not come under the subdivision regulations. Agricultural land registered in square feet, square metres or grounds must be treated as urban land.
• For non-MSB institutional buildings on land purchased as agricultural land, OSR does not apply even where the site exceeds 10,000 square metres. OSR does apply to any part of the land included in an unauthorised amalgamation.
• An administrative building proposed by an educational institution outside its institutional campus must be treated as an office building in the commercial category.
• The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority may require playground provision for institutional buildings.
• Link roads may be required for institutional developments on the same basis as other developments.

Roads, access and street alignment

Office Order No. 13/2015 does not allow FSI benefit for land left for road widening merely to make a road qualify for the proposed development. Internal access to OSR space that does not abut a public road is not treated as a link road. Where the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority requires road widening or a link road, FSI within the site or TDR benefits may be extended.

For approved existing buildings affected by street alignment, a government department may give an undertaking to hand over the affected portion when widening occurs. Other developments, including semi-government and statutory board developments, must transfer the street alignment portion to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority through a registered gift deed, free from structures and encumbrances.

For plots below 10,000 square metres, a link road may be required where a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority network plan exists or where it is needed to complete circulation to surrounding public roads or open land. Each application must be examined individually.

Other development types

Office Order No. 13/2015 also states:

• Cinema theatres and multiplexes require no objection certificates from Traffic and DF&RS, whether proposed alone or with other activities.
• Covered storage structures may be permitted for container terminals, subject to a certificate from the approving agency. Later conversion or deviation in use will be treated as commercial development.
• Special buildings or group developments may be permitted in Gramanatham areas where the applicant produces an absolute patta and its genuineness is verified.
• EWS developments may have a stilt floor only for two-wheeler parking, clearly marked on the plan.
• Applications within CRZ Regulations must follow both the Second Master Plan Development Regulations and the DCR prevailing in 1991, in accordance with CRZ regulations.