Almost two months after the BJP-led Mahayuti government announced a new policy that would provide relief to nearly 25,000 buildings across Mumbai that lack an Occupation Certificate (OC), a Government Resolution (GR) detailing the amnesty scheme is still awaited. Although the urban development department (UDD) says that the approval is in the final stage and the GR will be published anytime soon, citizens are clueless about how to apply for the amnesty scheme.
BMC Awaits State Guidelines on Implementation
“The amnesty scheme to regularise buildings in Mumbai was sent by BMC to the UDD in 2022. The approval was pending. After the current government announced the new OC policy, a committee chaired by ex-MP Gopal Shetty was appointed to address the hurdles. Once the GR is issued, we will know the changes made as it is not only BMC, but other authorities like MHADA, MIDC, Railways, are also included,” a senior officer from BMC’s development plan department said.
However, the officer added that the state government is yet to issue guidelines on how housing societies or commercial properties will apply under the new policy, the criteria, documents required, etc.
Residents Struggle with Confusion Over Authorities
Advocate Nitin Nikam, president of Tilak Nagar Residents Association, said, “Our colony has 168 residential high-rises, of which 90% buildings do not have an OC. It is a MHADA colony and while redevelopment, BMC was the authority. A couple of years ago, again, MHADA was the governing authority. We have been arranging residents' awareness camps to guide them on documentation, government formalities, appointment of an architect etc, towards obtaining an OC.”
“To date, several managing committees do not know if the OC will be given by BMC or MHADA. We have been waiting for the amnesty scheme since 2022. This is for one area; there are thousands of such buildings across Mumbai. Every case of different,” the advocate added.
Willingdon Heights Case Sparked Policy Push
In August, the Bombay High Court severely reprimanded residents of Willingdon Heights, in Tardeo, for staying in the building lacking OCs for the upper floors and directed them to vacate the top 17 floors. The incident led to public outcry and senior BJP leaders, including Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Ashish Shelar and Gopal Shetty, came in support of the residents, calling the developer the real culprit. In response to mounting concerns over the rising number of buildings without OC, a committee was formed to study the new OC policy.
Vacated Residents Still Waiting for Relief
The 27 families from Willingdon Heights who vacated their houses were promised that they would be considered under the new amnesty scheme to grant OC, following that they met all the criteria. “It's been two months since we vacated our houses, and there are no new developments so far. We are all getting restless due to the delay in the amnesty scheme. We don’t know what is keeping the government from issuing the GR. We were promised that the policy would be formally rolled out on October 2,” said a resident, Satish Mehta.
New Policy Aims to Ease Penalties and Enable Redevelopment
The objective of the new policy is to regularise buildings that lack OC due to factors beyond occupants' control. “Some benefits of the new policy include: Waiving of six months penalty, relaxation in total penalty towards functioning a Non-OC building, it will clear path for redevelopment of buildings which are pending due to lack of OC, relaxation for granting no-objection certificates due to encroachments or minor changes in the building plan etc,” the officer said.
