The Building Regularisation Scheme – A scam in the making

You heard this before, it is now in a new avatar. Everyone now and then the government of the day wakes up and announces something which it has no idea about in the first place. That’s what the Compulsory Disclosure Scheme is all about. After having turned a deliberate blind eye too illegal construction by unscrupulous builders, the government now wants to regularise them all.

It’s like telling the thief that he could keep whatever he stolen, provided he could pay a quarter of its value. That is what the building regularization scheme is all about. Over the years, MCH personnel and those of the outlying municipalities and panchayats took lakhs of rupees in bribes and allowed these illegal layouts and constructions to come up. With a three month window in sight, the cash strapped government wants to mop up close to Rs.1000 crores and in the process legalise what is blatantly illegal.

The entire subject came to the forefront when illegal constructions in Malkajgiri was brought to the notice of the high court, which promptly ordered their demolitions. That raised the hackles of not just the people who bought these apartments, but also of the builders many of whom simply vanished. So strings were pulled and right people in the hierarchy were paid off to ensure that another regularistion order was brought in by the government.

The erstwhile MCH had received 26,029 applications under a Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) in the 90s of which 12,145 were approved netting about Rs 40 crore. About 3,585 cases were rejected while 6,925 got conditional approval.

The State Government has now issued orders inviting owners and builders to get their unauthorised buildings and layouts regularised across the State. Two months’ time is being given to the builders to compulsorily disclose the details of their illegal constructions. The scheme is being devised in such a manner that the entire process would be completed in six months, well before the elections. In the GHMC limits, officials are expecting between 50,000 and 75,000 applications from slight deviations to illegal floors fetching Rs 300 crore.

The offer is being made through a Compulsory Disclosure Scheme. GHMC insisit that they had increased the penalty steeply as directed by the High Court to serve as deterrent to illegal structures/layouts. The penalty suggested by the experts committee appointed by the government at the instance of the court, did not satisfy the court.

Also, it would depend not only on built-up area but also the purpose for which the illegal structure was used residential/commercial. With this all residential buildings which were converted into commercial ventures. The new CDS will allow regularisation of unauthorised structures from 1985 till the new simplified common building rules came into force.

This move is nothing but a scandal. How can constructions in cellar, parking areas and penthouses which encroach on the right of other dwellers be allowed to get their illegal acts. The High court should not allow the move of GHMC to do this blatant illegal acts.

This simply means that citizens who follow the rules are fools and those who have done illegal acts can get away with their illegal constructions by just paying a few thousand rupees. It’s time we move to the Andhra Pradesh High Court and if that fails then take up the case with Supreme Court to make sure that the law is not ass.