G.O. (Ms) No.91, Samathuvapuram Housing Scheme, Selection of Beneficiaries and Maintenance of Social Equality and Social Justice, 2023

What the guidelines govern

G.O. (Ms) No.91 of the Tamil Nadu Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (SGS.1) Department governs beneficiary selection and the maintenance of social equality and social justice in Samathuvapurams. It applies to households seeking Samathuvapuram houses, existing beneficiaries, Village Panchayats, District Collectors and the rural development officials responsible for selection and allotment.

The Samathuvapuram Housing Scheme was launched to promote social justice and social equality. The Government had previously issued detailed guidance covering land, site selection, subdivision, house design, construction and beneficiary distribution.

Selection process

The beneficiary selection committee consists of:

• The Project Director, District Rural Development Agency, as chairman.
• The Block Development Officer (BP).
• The Tahsildar of the Taluk.
• The President of the Samathuvapuram Village Panchayat.
• The concerned VAO or VAOs.
• One PLF member from the Samathuvapuram Village Panchayat.

Where applicants are selected from an adjoining Village Panchayat, its President, concerned VAO or VAOs and one PLF member join the relevant selection committee.

Key procedural requirements include:

• The District Collector must issue a press release inviting applications from houseless households in the Samathuvapuram Village Panchayat.
• Local announcements must also be made.
• Eligible households appearing in departmental databases must be included automatically for consideration.
• Aadhaar numbers and consent forms must be collected for identification.
• Applicants must undergo field verification.
• The District Collector must finally approve the beneficiary list.
• The final list must be displayed at the Village Panchayat, Block and Taluk offices.

Priority and eligibility

Priority begins with landless households containing vulnerable persons. Further priorities cover vulnerable households in specified mud, brick, thatched or tiled houses, other landless households and other households living in huts or specified forms of housing. If eligible households in the Samathuvapuram Village Panchayat are exhausted, a geographically contiguous Village Panchayat with a higher population of Very Poor and Poor households may be considered in the same priority order.

Vulnerable persons include differently-abled persons, widows, destitute or deserted women, women-headed families, specified former service personnel, transgender persons, certified HIV, AIDS or TB affected persons, households with mentally challenged persons, certain families with severely malnourished children, victims of natural calamities, and Very Poor or Poor households in updated PIP data.

People living in RCC-roofed houses are ineligible. Previous beneficiaries of the listed government housing schemes are also ineligible.

Social equality and occupancy

Samathuvapuram beneficiary distribution follows the caste-wise proportion of 40:25:25:10 for SCs, BCs, MBCs and Others. The Commissioner of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj may modify the allocation order on a District Collector's recommendation where beneficiaries are unavailable locally or in contiguous Village Panchayats, without harming the scheme's purpose.

A beneficiary must live permanently in the allotted house from the start and must not continuously shift residence for more than six months.