MINUTES OF THE 7th MEETING OF THE MONITORING COMMITTEE HELD ON 07/03/07 @ 3.00 P.M. IN THE CONFERENCE HALL OF CMDA

What the minutes cover

The minutes of the seventh meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority record decisions affecting multi storeyed buildings, special buildings, completion certificates and enforcement against unauthorised construction. They also confirm the minutes of the sixth meeting, except for specified replacement paragraphs.

Property owners, builders and flat buyers may be affected where a completed building differs from its approved plan, requires a completion certificate for service connections, or faces demolition or rectification action.

Completion and compliance certificates

The Monitoring Committee considered difficulties reported by M/s FAIRPRO in obtaining completion certificates for recently completed multi storeyed buildings. Without these certificates, buildings were not receiving electricity, water or sewerage connections, affecting flat buyers and the information technology industry.

Key decisions and observations included:

• Minor deviations should be distinguished from wilful violations.
• Wilful violations cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
• The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority may consider minor deviations only where the original planning parameters are followed and building safety and public interests are protected.
• Major matters such as land use, number of floors, parking, floor space index, setback spaces and fire safety must not be ignored.
• For residential buildings with planning permission issued before 23 August 2006, a 5 percent relaxation in parking requirements may be given.
• Structural stability certificates should be obtained from qualified engineers, following broad National Building Code guidelines.
• Fire and Rescue Services may broadly follow National Building Code guidelines when issuing fire licences for compliance certificates.

The Monitoring Committee clarified that the completion certificate norms being finalised applied only to planning permissions issued before 23 August 2006.

Enforcement and regularisation

The Monitoring Committee directed speedy action in cases where notices had required demolition or restoration to the originally approved plan. It wanted formalities for contractor appointment completed quickly and concrete action on the ground by 31 March 2007.

As of 6 March 2007, refusal letters had been sent for 2,432 applications under the Regularisation 2002 Scheme. Refusal or rejection letters remained to be sent for another 4,092 applications. Discussion of applications pending with local bodies under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority Regularisation Scheme was deferred.