Minutes of the 8th Meeting of the Monitoring Committee Held on 23/03/07

What the minutes cover

The Minutes of the 8th Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of CMDA, held on 23 March 2007, record administrative and property specific decisions concerning completion certificates, regularisation applications and enforcement against unauthorised or deviated buildings. The decisions are relevant to building owners, flat owners, occupants and applicants whose properties require completion or compliance certificates or are subject to restoration and demolition action.

Completion certificate process

The Monitoring Committee approved interim norms for issuing completion certificates, with modifications discussed with the Corporation of Chennai, the Director of Fire and Rescue Services and the Traffic Police. Key points include:

• A 5% relaxation in parking requirements may be allowed only for residential buildings.
• Structural stability certificates must be obtained from qualified engineers, following broad National Building Code guidelines.
• Relevant compliance certificates must be obtained from agencies including the local body, the Director of Fire and Rescue Services and the Traffic Police.
• The Chief Planner may issue the completion certificate after receiving the required compliance certificates.
• The Chief Planner may seek guidance from the subcommittee if clarification is needed.
• The approved norms remain valid until the Development Control Rules are amended.

The Monitoring Committee noted that a subcommittee had examined 38 individual files and found no need to modify the approved completion certificate norms.

Regularisation and enforcement decisions

The Monitoring Committee directed CMDA to meet Commissioners and Executive Officers of local bodies about implementing the High Court order dated 23 August 2006. Local bodies were to send letters by 30 June 2007 to applicants under the Regularisation Schemes of 2000, 2001 and 2002.

The minutes record that the Regularisation Scheme of 2002 had been struck down by the High Court and that rejection letters had been sent in 3,267 of 6,522 cases. Similar letters were also to be sent to applicants under the Regularisation Schemes of 2000 and 2001, which had also been struck down.

Property specific outcomes

The Monitoring Committee made different decisions according to each building's circumstances:

• Some applications were rejected, with directions for demolition or restoration to the approved plan.
• The Mylapore property at Door Numbers 42 and 43 was ordered to be restored to its approved plan.
• The Lattice Bridge Road, Prince Plaza, C.P. Ramasamy Road and Ashok Nagar applications were rejected with enforcement directions.
• Certain Egmore and T. Nagar buildings were permitted regularisation subject to alternative fire safety measures and certification from the Director of Fire and Rescue Services.