Given possession without OC? State to act against the builder

In a move to make developers accountable, the state government has decided to act against builders and architects who give possession of flats to owners without securing a Occupation Certificate (OC) certificate. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Council that the government along with the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing a policy to tackle the matter.

As per rough estimates, around 56,000 buildings in the city do not have OCS. Member of legislative council Anant Gadgil, who moved a calling attention motion in the Council demanding solution to the issue, said that in most cases developers ask buyers to move into the without getting OCS and residents then bear the brunt of cases and are hassled by the BMC.

According to civic norms, flat owners cannot live in a flat until it has been given an OC from the building proposal department of the BMC. Anyone occupying a flat without an OC is liable to be prosecuted. Buildings without OCS are not given a water connection and are charged a higher property tax.

Responding to Gadgil’s question, Fadnavis said, “The developers do not procure the OC and give possession to flat owners and this causes a lot of difficulties. To prevent this, the state government and BMC are framing a policy. If possession is taken without abiding by the development control rules, the municipal Act, action will be taken against related developers, architects and the people occupying the flat.”

Currently, there are 24 criteria that need to be fulfilled to get an OC, which include meeting the prescribed safety norms and zero violations during construction.