NA permission not required for land in urban areas in Maharashtra

* Data Bank to be maintained in District Collector’s office to expedite grant of NA permissions
By Kartik Lokhande
Within a year since the report of High-level Committee to curb unauthorised/illegal constructions in rural areas in the vicinity of major cities including Nagpur, Maharashtra Government has decided to scrap the concept of non-agricultural (NA) permissions for lands in Development Plan (DP) areas.
As per the decision taken by State Cabinet in its meeting held on Wednesday, prior permission of District Collector will not be required for non-agricultural use of any land in the Development Plan area under the jurisdiction of municipal corporation/council. However, land-holder will have to obtain permission from competent authority (municipal corporation/council) concerned for development of the said land as per the use in DP. Within 30 days of getting such permission, the land-holder will have to furnish the information in this regard to Revenue Department. This has been made necessary to enable Revenue Department (District Collector’s office) to calculate the conversion charges and NA cess.
For the lands outside the said DP area, however, NA permission will be required as per the procedure. State Cabinet also decided to simplify this procedure. As per the simplified procedure, Revenue Department will grant no objection certificate for NA permission to planning authority concerned ffor development of the land, after scrutinising the land laws and payment of requisite ‘nazarana’ (charges). After this, the land-holder will get final comprehensive approval for development of the said land.
To ensure that scrutiny of records is made easily, it has been decided to create and maintain a ‘Data Bank’ at the office of District Collector in each district. With creation of ‘Data Bank’ it will not be required to seek certificates from various departments in every case. This will save time and facilitate faster grant of NA permissions.
It may be recalled here that the High-Level Committee had made several recommendations to the Government to curb unauthorised/illegal constructions in rural areas in the vicinity of major cities in the State including Nagpur, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, etc. The committee was appointed in the wake of unauthorised/illegal constructions in violation of various laws and rules, Floor-to-Space Index (FSI) norms, in the rural areas around major cities. As far as Nagpur is concerned, countless multi-storeyed buildings had come up in areas like Besa, Beltarodi, Shankarpur, Ghogli, Hingna, Wadi, Kanholibara, Bahadura, Gotal-Panjri etc.
Against the backdrop, the High-level Committee had recommended scrapping of the concept of NA permissions. The committee had stated that the concept of obtaining NA permissions should be done away with on the lines of decision taken by Madhya Pradesh Government. State Cabinet’s decision taken on Wednesday is based on this recommendation of the High-level Committee, which had submitted its report to the Government in August 2013. The committee comprised Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), Principal Secretary (Rural Development), Principal Secretary (Urban Development-I), Director of Town Planning, and Divisional Commissioners of Nagpur, Amravati, Aurangabad, Konkan, Pune, and Nashik. Principal Secretary (UD-I) was the co-ordinator of the committee.

What about ‘zero tolerance’ for unauthorised 

constructions, regional development plans?

Though the Government has adopted a recommendation of the High-level Committee, there are several other recommendations on which some measures are yet to be taken. This inaction leaves one wondering if the Government really wants to ‘curb’ unauthorised constructions or leave scoot-free the builders and developers who have violated the laws and norms.

For instance, the committee had recommended in clear terms to regularise unauthorised constructions dating back to period prior to January 31, 2013 in rural areas in the vicinity of major cities. But, no final decision has been taken in this regard. As a result, the builders and developers who violated the norms and laws and sold such troubled properties to innocent investors nurturing the dream of their own home/flat, are out of the trouble and investors are still waiting for the Government to protect their investment of a lifetime.

In case of such constructions after the said cut-off date, it was proposed to adopt a policy of ‘zero tolerance for unauthorised construction’. Under this policy, unauthorised constructions were to be demolished. It was proposed to constitute district and sub-division level committees to inspect and monitor constructions in rural areas to ensure that there was no violation of norms and laws. For the first two years, the recommendations regarding constitution of committees for control of unauthorised constructions were to be implemented in Nagpur, Amravati, Pune, Thane, Nashik, and Aurangabad. After studying their effectiveness, these recommendations were to be implemented in other districts. However, nothing visible has been done in this regard till date.

In most cases, Gram Panchayats gave permission for multi-storeyed structures though it was not in their powers. Considering this, the committee had recommended to lodge FIR against Sarpanch, Deputy Sarpanch, members of Gram Panchayat who granted protection/permission to unauthorised constructions in respective areas. Nothing has been done so far in concrete terms.

The committee had also recommended repeal of Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act and changes to various other laws including Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act. So far, the Government only released the draft of MRTP Act and invited suggestions/objections on the same.

The most challenging task for the Government is in regulating unauthorised constructions in rural areas in the vicinity of cities other than the major ones. For the purpose, it needs to sanction regional development plans so that development is executed in a planned and authorised manner. Since 45 years, of a total 35 districts in State, 11 do not have regional development plan at all. These 11 districts include Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Yavatmal, and Buldhana from Vidarbha region. 

(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on July 17, 2014)