City Beat: Tamil Nadu Kick-Starts Process To Regulate Real Estate In Chennai [Video]

The Tamil Nadu government has kick-started the process to regulate the real estate sector in Chennai. For this, the government plans to constitute a sub-committee that will formulate the rules in line with the Centre's draft rules for the Real Estate Act, 2016. This step is expected to bring more transparency, keep a check on projects' status and also penalise defaulting developers.

In another development, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is seeking the permission to go online with project proposals and status. An online system would make the process of submission of construction project applications hassle-free and ease the tracking of project status. The authority plans to go online with the process in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre.

Also, to give the much-needed thrust to the affordable housing segment, the developers' body Credai has urged the government to hand over transferable development rights, or TDRs, at concessional rates to developers. Rights worth Rs 1,000 crore are available with the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board sanctioned by the government, which the Board has not been able to liquidate. Credai Chennai President Suresh Krishna has also said that the government will have to modify development regulations in order to facilitate use of TDRs for affordable housing.

Meanwhile, amid various steps being taken to regulate and facilitate housing in the city, the state government has been rapped by the Madras High Court for not yet planning to use GPS equipment for measuring and protecting land across the city. In a recent ruling, the court called the government 'penny-wise and pound foolish'. GPS acquisition is a central scheme and the state government is offered 100 per cent subsidy on it. At present, the city needs 32 GPS devices, one for each district.