Owners of unapproved plots in HACA areas in Coimbatore continue to await regularisation

The government had notified regularisation of unapproved layouts and plots in the Hill Area in March 2020.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Owners of unapproved plots or plots in unapproved layouts falling under the Hill Area Conservation Act (HACA) in the district have been waiting for regularisation for the last four years.

The government had notified regularisation of unapproved layouts and plots in the Hill Area in March 2020, said K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, and explained that regularisation required no-objection certificates (NOC) from four departments – Agriculture, Forest, Mines and Revenue.

To streamline the process, the government directed local panchayats to collect details of unapproved layouts in their respective jurisdictions, secure NOCs from all four departments and send them to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) for approval of layout framework. After receiving in-principle approval from the DTCP, the local bodies are responsible for regularising the individual plots of the applicants.

However, most of the layouts remain unregulated because one department or another has not issued the necessary NOC. As a result, local bodies have been unable to submit applications to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). Consequently, no one has been able to regularize the unapproved plots to date.

Though the government has extended the regularisation deadline to the end of this month, Mr. Kathirmathiyon expressed concern that there would be little progress. He urged the district Collector to intervene to resolve the bottlenecks.

An official from the Coimbatore Local Planning Authority stated that concerned departments have been instructed to expedite the issuance of NOCs.

However, Mr. Kathirmathiyon has called for the Collector to intervene since the matter has remained unresolved.