SC gives 4 weeks to work out a deal
In order to become owners of the land on which the buildings are constructed, residents are claiming to get deemed transportation as alleged by a senior civic official.
Supreme Court (SC) has given four weeks to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to consider the residents’ plea for regularisation for the relief of the unauthorised flats in Worli’s Campa Cola compound.
SC has already asked Campa Cola Residents Association and the civic body to check for a resolution to the strip over the illegal and unauthorised flats which as per previous order faced demolition, in February.
As stated by the official “The proof for deemed conveyance has not been given to BMC by the residents. The administration will look at the possibility of regularisation once they receive proper documents”.
A deemed conveyance is a document to carry out transfer for the title of the land on which a particular building has been constructed in the name of the housing society.
Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act
According to provisions of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA), the title of the land should be transferred to a housing society after its residents sign the agreements and buy the flats. In the hope of availing more floor space index (FSI) that may become available, or to explore opportunities to restore the flats, many builders don’t transfer the title of the properties. The state government has come out with a special stipulation in MOFA to enable societies to get deemed conveyance; this is to stop misuse by builders.
The builders are yet to transfer the conveyance deed in the society’s name whilst the sale agreements in case of Campa Cola were started in 1980. A civic official said “All rights over land and building, including FSI, remains with the developer or the landowner, without deemed conveyance. Until and unless residents have deemed conveyance and are owners of the plot of land legally, they cannot go for redevelopment “.
During last year November, the bench had held the destruction of the unauthorised flats by taking cognisance of media reports. The date of demolition has been extended from November 11, 2013 to May 31, 2014 to be fair in consideration, as the Attorney General wanted time to come out with a specific proposal for a permanent solution.
The BMC plans to knock down houses of 92 families living in 32 illegal floors across five different buildings. Following a stringent SC order dated February 27, 2013 the 102 unauthorised flats occupied by these families were to be demolished. However, the residents tried to request SC for regularisation of their unauthorised floors under permissible Floor Space Index (FSI).
Source: The Indian Express
Attorney General, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Builders, Civic official, Floor Space Index, Housing Society, Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, State government, Supreme Court, Unauthorised flats, Worli’s Campa Cola compound
