Out of 42,000 illegal buildings, the court had ordered the demolition of only 855. Thus, more than 41,000 buildings stand to benefit from the new law.
MUMBAI: Governor SM Krishna signed into law on Saturday the ordinance to regularise illegal structures in Ulhasnagar. But there is a crucial change: it will not apply to the 855 buildings whose demolition was ordered by the Bombay high court.
The governor had earlier returned the ordinance to the cabinet for ‘clarification’. A source said Krishna wanted to know if he could sign the ordinance when the high court is hearing a public-interest petition in the matter. His query led the government to include the clause leaving the 855 condemned buildings out of the purview of the new law.
Chief Secretary RM Premkumar said, “This is exclusively for Ulhasnagar. In the ordinance it has been made clear that it cannot be used as a precedent in any case in future.”
As for the condemned buildings, whose fate had led to a public outcry and forced the cabinet to consider the ordinance in the first place, the government said in a statement: “The matter is between the court and the owners of these buildings.”
There are nearly 42,000 illegal buildings in Ulhasnagar. The court had ordered the demolition of only 855. Thus, more than 41,000 buildings stand to benefit from the new law.
The ordinance proposes to constitute an independent authority, assisted by a committee of experts, to consider regularising illegal structures. Only those structures built before January 1, 2005, would be eligible for regularisation.
But no structure will be automatically legalised by the ordinance. “It is for every individual owner to approach the new authority and apply for regularisation,” Premkumar said.
Again, not all structures can be regularised. The ordinance sets certain parameters to decide this.
The ordinance has come into immediate effect. The petitions against illegal construction will come up for hearing on January 25. Meanwhile, demolition of the condemned buildings will continue. Ulhasnagar Municipal Commissioner DS Patil said, “Despite the ordinance, demolitions will continue unless the high court gives a direction to stop.”
The demolitions had evoked large-scale protests from members of the Sindhi community in Ulhasnagar who had migrated from Pakistan after Partition to settle in the military barracks in this town. As time progressed, the barracks gave way to buildings.
Do’s and don’ts of the regularisation
- Structures on public property, internal roads, rivers and nullahs, and those obstructing natural water resources or fire and infrastructural safety cannot be regularised.
- The violations that can be regularised include:
A) Side margin violation
B) Floor space index violation (with an upper limit of 4)
C) Covered projection violation
D) Change of user in building or plot
E) Construction on common or compounded plots
F) Violation of height restrictions
G) Reduced provision of parking space
- To regularise any structure, the applicant would have to pay a hefty compounding charge and development fee, for which four slabs have been fixed.
- The compounding and development fees collected would be treated as a corpus to develop and maintain civic amenities in Ulhasnagar.
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